One Day at a Time
by Krazie Kaity
Summary: When you truly love someone you'll stand by them no matter how hard things get, even if it means being separated due to conflict overseas. Flaky and Flippy are about to find that out first hand. Human! Tree Friends.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of the HTF characters,**

**only the story that I have thrown them in.**

Chapter I

A lightly tanned built man with short light green hair walked out of the local hospital carrying a small bag of medication and smiling happily. He wore an Army regulated uniform with a Green Beret resting atop his head and his dog tags around his neck; to top it off he had made his way to a forest green pickup truck with the logo of his regiment decorating his back window. Pulling out his keys from his pocket he unlocked the driver side door before stepping in, setting the bag of medication in the passenger side seat he then grabbed his aviator sunglasses and covered his emerald green eyes before turning his attention to actually starting the car. Flipping through his set list of radio stations he happily sighed before announcing to himself, "Three months, one week, and four days."

What this 26 year old was referring to was not only the last time he saw his petite red haired love interest, but also how long it had been since the decorated war vet had 'flipped out'. Smiling wider to himself he put this truck in gear and pulled out of his parking spot, humming along with the song that was currently playing he made his way up to the stop sign and flipped on his right turn signal. For now he was heading home, he still had several more hours before his sweetheart even got out of work.

Across town at the Happy Tree Bar and Grille a small, pale, 19 year old red head with dandruff throughout her long messy locks sat on one of the stools, gently placed her elbows on the mahogany bar and sighed happily. Now that the cleaning was done all she needed to do was wait for her shift to finish. Within seconds she was attacked with a hug by her pinkette friend with her trademark bob haircut decorated with a red bow; smiling widely and returned her friends hug. "So we're holding karaoke tonight, you're coming right Flaky?"

Shaking her head the red head replied with a soft voice, "Sorry Giggles I don't think I'll be making it to karaoke tonight. I have a…." Pausing, her face started to heat up and a shade of soft pink started to take over her cheeks; playing with the hem of her uniform shirt and continued, "I have a… date."

Giggles gasped at her friend's news, this drew the attention of some of the other staff members and caused Flaky to try and shush her. One of the young waiters who overheard this made his way over to find out the details, throwing his arm over her shoulder he pulled her closer. He was also one of her good friends, but he was also one of the few people she didn't want to know. Looking over at him she was greeted by a goofy bucktooth smile of her freckled purple haired friends. Flaky smiled uneasily and gave a nervous laugh, he then spoke, "So you have a date? Our Flaky is growing up so fast!"

His statement made her much more fidgety and her cheeks became a darker shade of pink. Luckily for her their long haired bluenette manager walked over straightening her pinecone necklace. Turning her attention to the boy she spoke firmly, "Toothy, I suggest you remove yourself from her before I change my mind on that weekend you want off." His eyes widened, quickly removing his arm from her and backed away by a few steps and sat on a nearby bench. Once Petunia saw Toothy back to minding his personal space she looked to Flaky and asked, "So who's the lucky guy that gets to take you out?"

The blush only deepened more and the playing with her shirts hem resumed, looking down she mumbled the name of her date. The three simultaneously gave her a questioning gaze and leaned in a bit closer trying to get a better listen to what she just had said. Flaky bit her lower lip lightly and took a deep breath trying to regain herself, which was always a difficult task for her; breathing two more times she closed her eyes tightly and spoke bravely as she could, "Fl-Flippy."

The three who just a moment before leaning in all backed up back to where they were prior to her announcement; staying silent for a moment to let the name sink in. Giggles was the first to speak, and made sure to voice her concern. "Flaky are you sure it's okay for you to go _alone _with him? I mean it's been like three months since anyone as seen him, there has to be a reason for that."

"Yeah, I mean he might go on a rampage again, and sorry Flaky but I don't feel like dying again this week," Toothy added with a small shake remembering being decapitated just a few days earlier.

Frowning she looked to the floor and furrowed her brows; it was true that Flippy had his problems and would try to slaughter the whole town, but it wasn't like everything wouldn't go back to normal the next morning. Everyone knew that this cursed island that they lived on wouldn't let anyone die if it wasn't from old age, still it was a pain losing a day or so due to temporary death. Still, Flippy had made her a promise and she was going to stand by his word. Remembering that promise she felt some courage well up in her, looking up she spoke firmly, "It'll be okay. Flippy told me he wouldn't ask me out again until he was positive he would be able to control himself. That's the reason no one's seen him around lately, he admitted himself so that he could gain control over his PTSD, and he said he's ready and I believe him."

Petunia smiled at her response and thought about how she herself stood firmly by Handy's side even with him being and amputee. It was a giant hurdle that they had to concur, and she could see herself in Flaky as she took to Flippy's defense. Smiling happily Petunia gave her a cheerful response, "Well I'm very happy for you two and hope you have a great time, and if you still have time afterwards bring Flippy by for some karaoke."

Flaky's face was taken over by a smile, glad that someone supported her, and the smile grew even wider once the wall clock started chiming. It was four o' clock, and that meant it was time for her to punch out and get ready for her date. Jumping off the stool she hurried over the computer and logged herself out of the time clock and took off her waist waitressing apron and set it in its respective place. As she made her way out she turned back and added, "I'll see if I can talk him into coming to karaoke afterwards." With one final wave she exited the building and hopped on her purple Vespa and placed her helmet over her messy hair. Starting it up she turned left out of the parking lot, now she just needed to go get ready to spend the evening with the man she had a crush on since he moved to Happy Tree Town.

Running his hand through his inch long hair he made sure it was kept neat; blowing smoke out of his nose he leaned in closer to the mirror and checked his jaw line for any stray whiskers that he may have missed when he shaved earlier. Confirming that he was indeed cleanly shaved he returned to standing straight and removed the cigarette from his mouth to tap the ashes into one of the glass ashtrays that were placed throughout the house. Returning the burning tobacco to his mouth and took another puff; looking over his light blue jeans he nodded happily seeing no stains then turned his attention to pulling his black tee shirt straight. Looking at the platinum watch his lips curled up into a happy smile. Putting out the cigarette he splashed some cologne on before exiting his bathroom. Taking a right he grabbed his camo jacket and threw it over his black shirt then reached out for his beret before pausing. He wanted this to be the best night it could possibly be, retracting his arm he then took out his jacket and hung it back up, the only army related this he kept on were his dog tags. Patting his back pocket he confirmed that he grabbed this wallet, he then picked up his keys and locked up his house before heading to his truck. Stepping back into his truck he turned over the engine and buckled himself in feeling as though he could take on the world. Driving to her house he knew just were to take her, the carnival; last year he ended up 'flipping out', so this would be the perfect place to prove he was completely in control. Within five minutes he had pulled up into Flaky's driveway and put his truck in park and jumped out walking up to her front door. Pausing he took a deep breath, "Okay Flippy, this is your moment to shine." Knocking on the door he then quickly straightened back up as if he were standing at attention.

Flaky looked herself over making sure that she removed all the dandruff possible. Jumping a bit at the noise she then turned to face the oak front door. Smiling she ran over and opened the door, seeing him out of uniform made her stare in awe, without the jacket is was clearly visible how buff he actually was. Her face started to light up and she stared shifting, "H-hi Flippy."

Looking her over and smiled seeing her wearing a white and purple tank and a semi short black skirt with a pair of white flats. Picking up her hand and bent over to place a gentle kiss on the back of her hand, standing straight up again he still held her hand, "are you ready my dear." Nodding she unwillingly took her hand back and locked the door, then followed her date to the passenger side of his truck. Holding the door open for her he waited for her to get situated before closing the passenger side and joining her in the driver side. Buckling himself in again he looked her over again, "You know, you're absolutely beautiful Flaky."

She felt her cheeks starting to heat up again and fidgeted clearly not expecting the complement. "Y-y-you l-look a-maz-z-zing w-w-without y-your jacket covering y-you up," immediately after she realized how it sounded and covered her mouth, the same sentence didn't sound anywhere near as sensual in her head. Flippy also caught how it sounded and started blushing himself, but it was also clear that Flaky could have possible died out of embarrassment and decided to try to play it off as nothing. Reaching his arm over he rested it on top of the passenger side and ran his hand through some of her locks to try and calm her down a bit.

"You know if you really think I look better like this I'll try wearing more casual clothes," he said with a smile.

Flaky opened her mouth to argue what she meant but then looked him over again, she was far too shy to admit it but she really did like seeing just how defined he was. Her blush deepened and nodded, and looked forward to try and figure out where he was going to take her, but a moment later she heard her date humming along with the song that was currently playing and giggled. It didn't take long for her to join him by singing along until she noticed the parking lot he just pulled into. The color drained from her already pale face, swallowing hard she looked over to Flippy and nervously spoke, "a-are you sure?"

Smiling he parked and removed his seatbelt before leaning over and placing a kiss on the tip of her nose. "Flaky I promise you I'm ready for this," he then placed his forehead to hers trying to reassure her about their date. Flaky then recalled his promise, nodding against his forehead she smiled. After a moment the closeness gave Flippy the bravery to do something he had meant to for a while now, tilting his head he leaned in to place a kiss on her lips. Before he could close the gap there was furious tapping on the driver side window and this made Flaky pull back to see what was going on. With a disappointed sigh he straightened back up and looked over to see who was so oblivious to disturb them; as soon as he saw a tall lanky man with blue hair and a goofy smile he knew who it was. Rolling down his window he greeted the man, "Hey Lumpy, what can I do for you?"

The blue haired man handed him two entry tickets, "I just wanted to come give you the tickets you ordered so you wouldn't have to stand in line and wait." After Flippy took the tickets he looked past him to the other passenger and waved, "Hope you two have a great time."

"Thank you that was very thoughtful Lumpy, try not to work too hard," she said sweetly before waving goodbye to him. Turning her attention back to Flippy as he motioned towards the carnivals entrance, "Shall we?"

Once inside the gate Flaky looked around happily taking in all that was going on around her, it was a lot bigger and flashier than last year and the new look amazed her. Chuckling he placed his hand on the small of his petite dates back trying to edge her in farther, "So what do you want to do first sweetie?"

"C-can we start with games," she asked sweetly ready to have fun.

"Of course," he laughed and followed her over to one of the many game stands that were lined up and chose the balloon game. Flippy handed over a dollar to the one person running the stand then took his place next to her and watched as she took aim and started squirting water at the clowns mouth trying to fill up the balloon as fast as she could. Once it popped she yelped and jumped back startled, and by doing this she avoided being splashed with the water that exploded from the balloon, Flippy however was not. Once she opened her eyes she saw standing with his arms stretched out and the front of his shirt soaked and sticking to him; she started to laugh but slowly stopped seeing he was giving her a stern look, fearing that he may have flipped she gasped and started to run away. Flippy's expression changed to confusion as she took off, "Hey, where do you think you're going?" Chasing after her the quickly scooped her up and cheerfully laughed and hugged her closely, "You still need to go pick out your prize!"

Once she was set down back in front of the booth she turned to check out Flippy's expression and realized that he was still normal, flushing from embarrassment she then looked over the stuffed animals. Once in particular caught her eye and she smiled and happily told the person running the booth which one she wanted. He handed over the green bear with a pink heart shaped nose, thanking him she held it closely before turning to Flippy again and shyly said, "I'm sorry."

"For what," he asked while still trying to become accustom to his wet shirt.

"I….. I thought you flipped out… Th-that's why I ran away," she said ashamed that she fell to the fear that was still in the back of her mind.

His eyes softened and he placed a kiss on her forehead, "I'm sorry sweetheart I didn't mean to scare you like that."

She ignored the fact that his shirt was wet and hug him closely, it was clear he wasn't mad or blaming her for not trusting him but she still felt bad. Once she stepped back she felt her cheeks being pushed up by a pair of thumbs, looking up she was greeted by a wide grin, "Come on smile we're supposed to be having fun."

Giggling she pushed his hands away from her face and returned to hold her bear close, "You're right. Let's play some more games."

Following happily he let her play to her heart's content, most of the time she didn't win and this was starting to depress her, seeing this Flippy took matters into his own hands and stepped up to one of the shooting games. Holding the fake rifle as if it were real he took aim and started knocking down the plastic ducks one after another he smiled triumphantly seeing he knocked them all down. Standing he looked over the prizes and picked a red porcupine that also had the pink heart nose. Looking at the stuffed animal he couldn't help but smile, and handed it to Flaky, "For you my dear."

"Thank you, you know you didn't have to," she replied sweetly taking the animal and held it closely with the other one.

"Of course I did. Your bear looked so lonely I had to make sure he had a friend."

Smiling she leaned onto her toes and placed a kiss on his cheek, then looked around for what to do next, the one thing caught her eye. Holding both animals in one of her small hands she then grabbed Flippy's hand and started pulling him along to where she wanted to go. Being pulled along he tried to figure out where he was being pulled to, it wasn't until they stopped and Flaky let go of his hand that he knew what it was that they were going to do next. Looking down the line he saw the giant Ferris wheel that light up the night sky. While they stood in line together he slipped his hand next to hers and interlaced his fingers with hers. Looking over at her hand in his she blushed and closed her fingers around his and couldn't help but smile at this new sign of affection. After the short stand in line they were greeted by a blond haired boy who had just let a couple out, "Flaky, Flippy, how are you?"

"We're good Cuddles, how about yourself," Flaky answered before inquiring about himself.

"Can't wait to get off work, Giggles wants me to go sing karaoke with her. You're coming to right?"

Flippy raised a brow at the mention of singing and looked to his date to see if she knew what he was talking about, "Ummm…. I'm not sure, it depends on what we do next."

He mouthed the word 'oh' before motioning them into the car, "well hope you can join us," and with that he closed them in. Sitting across from Flippy she set her new stuffed animals next to her and looked out the window, it was then that it hit her; she seemed to forget she was afraid of heights. Noticing this Flippy pulled her over and hugged her closely to comfort her. She closed her eyes and listened to his steady heart beat; wrapping her arms around her soldier, and felt completely at peace as he played with her hair. She had been enjoying herself so much and didn't want their date to end; cuddling closer she happily smiled feeling a kiss being placed on top of her head, but when a firework went off she pulled back quickly. Her eyes widened in fear as his breathing became shorter and more rapid, swallowing hard she waited for this breathing to go back to normal, "F-F-Flippy?"

He then looked over at her with emerald green eyes and a warm smile, "Sorry they caught me off guard."

Giving a heavy sigh of relief she then looked out the window at the fireworks, "they're beautiful aren't they?"

"Not at beautiful as you," he added, when she turned and looked at him he cupped the side of her face; looking her face over he leaned in and placed his lips on hers. Sitting stiffly for a moment she was in complete shock but at the same time couldn't say that she didn't want this. When he started to pull back she wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him back into a kiss. In a bit of shock he paused before placing his hand on her mid section and careful pulled her into his lap making sure to never break their chain of innocent kisses. It wasn't until their time in on Ferris wheel was coming to an end that Flaky pulled away flustered, but also very happy with how the evening had been unfolding. She began to fidget in his lap, picking up on this he removed his hand from her sides and helped her over to the side she was originally on. Not long after Cuddles opened the door and saw two flushed faces, he couldn't help but smile and laugh to himself as Flippy helped his date out as she carried her stuffed animals. Walking away holding hands, Flaky then smiled and pulled her Flippy's hand to get his attention, "Do you um… want to go sing some karaoke?"

**A/N: Oh god this is my first fic I've written in almost six years and I truly am nervous about submitting this. Though I must say I think I'm doing this more for myself this time instead of trying to write what I think everyone will like. So I am revoking my one review per chapter rule; also I'm open to critiquing so please let me know what I could do to improve my writing.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of the HTF characters,**

**only the story that I have thrown them in.**

Chapter II

As Flippy drove towards his date's place of employment and looked to Flaky with a pleading look, "You know, I really… can't sing…"

"I'm not that good at singing either but I still have a lot of fun when I go with Giggles," she said calmly trying to give him some reassurance about agreeing to go sing for a while. He nodded and forced a smile still highly unsure why or how she got him to agree to this. Turning into the parking lot and reluctantly parking he killed the engine he leaned over and went to give Flaky another kiss in an attempt to prolong joining the group inside. Sadly failing due to Giggles hurrying over to the passenger side of his truck, seeing this Flaky jumped out to greet her friend; sighing heavily Flippy exited and slowly walked around joining the girls. Rubbing Flaky's back he nodded to Giggles who had paused mid sentence staring at her male friend, "Oh. My. Gawd! Flippy, you look sooooo different out of uniform!"

Chuckling he used his free hand to scratch his head before replying, "Yeah I've been told to dress my casual from now on."

Blushing Flaky leaned closer to Flippy knowing he was referring to what she said earlier, "W-why don't w-we go inside and get a place to sit?"

"Oh! Actually I already have a table for us, come on," Giggles happily answered before making her way to the entrance, holding the door for the couple. Weaving between groups of people they finally found their way to a booth close to the karaoke stage. Giggles slid in next to a boy with lime green hair on a sugar high; while Flaky and Flippy slid in on the other side sitting close to one another. Slipping his arm around her shoulder and lightly rubbed his thumb against her exposed skin. Almost immediate after getting into the booth Petunia snaked her way over to the table and smiled widely, "Hey, glad you two could join us! Is there anything I can get you?"

"Water's fine what about you guys," Giggles said happily looking across the table.

"Water is good for me too," Flaky smiled to her boss.

"A pint of whatever's on tap," Flippy said after a moment of thinking.

Nodding Petunia turned and disappeared in the crowd, Giggles and Flaky then started discussing what song to sing together tonight, Flippy on the other hand turned his attention to counting the sugar packets Nutty was still adding to is already incredible sweet tea. Feeling as though he was being watched he looked up at the couple across him. Seeing Flippy's arm around Flaky and nearly yelled, "Are you two dating?"

All attention turned to Nutty now; Flaky blushed and fidgeted while Flippy took it in stride. Pulling her closer he proudly smiled, "Well, we are on a date, but we're not 'dating' per se."

The younger boy sat there in silence trying to process what was just said, Giggles shook her head at her naïve friend. Everyone's attention turned back to Petunia as soon as she returned with their drinks, "Here you go. So how about some karaoke," looking at Flippy she smiled, "Come on I know you want to sing."

Knowing what she was referring to he quickly took up his beer and took a long drink to avoid answering as long as he could. "Well me and Flaky want to sing Gunpowder and Lead," Giggles happily chimed in smiling to her friend.

Nutty shook his head and eyes turned back to the only person who had yet to respond. Setting the glass down he already knew saying no was out of the question and sighed. "Alright how about Rope by Foo Fighters," he said with a nervous smile half hoping that since it was a newer song that they didn't have karaoke version of it yet.

"That's the spirit, I'll go sign you both up," with that she was gone again, and the group turned back to one another and started talking amongst themselves and listening to everyone's renditions of current songs. It wasn't long until the girls names were announced and made their way up to the stage. Laughing with one another they waited for the music to start; the song could have easily been sung by only one of them but together they actually sounded pretty good. Once the song ended a round of applause followed congratulating the girls on a good duet. They then made their way back to the table as Flippy scooted out and made his way up as his name was then announced. Taking the mic in hand he held it up and closed his eyes as if trying to tap into something. Counting out the beats he opened his emerald eyes and started to sing along, but what came out wasn't what anyone was expecting and he now had the attention of everyone in the bar. The voice that came out was one of a rock star with the 'rocker growl' that matched perfectly to how it was actually meant to be sung. After the four minute song ended a roar of applause and whistles erupted throughout the entire bar. Bowing he set the mic back and walked back to the table and was greeted by expressions of shock and awe. "What was that," Giggles couldn't contain her surprise.

Smiling he slid in next to Flaky and laughed lightly, "Well… That was me singing."

"You said you couldn't sing," Flaky added still in awe of the singing voice he had. He smiled and chuckled before taking another drink of her beer.

After the bar closed the couple headed back to the truck, all the while Flaky continued to ask how and when he learned to sing. Once inside the truck Flippy pulled her into a romantic kiss before answering her question, "I've always been able to sing, I was even in a band back when I was in high school."

"A band," she exclaimed cheerful, she was happy to be learning more about her soldier. Nodding he pulled out a cigarette and held it in his mouth before asking, "Well I have a bunch of stuff if you want to go check it out? Err I mean it can wait I know it's really late."

He didn't want to make it sound like he was trying to get her to come over, and luckily she did not take it that way. Thinking about the options she had she flushed at the thought of their date ending with her at his place, but at the same time she was very curious about his past. "L-lets go t-to your house."

Smiling he started his truck; he couldn't believe how amazing their date had been so far. As he drove back to his house Flaky looked him over and smiled before cautiously taking the unlit cigarette out of him mouth and placed it in the ash tray and leaned over and placed her head on his shoulder. Smiling he pulled into his driveway and turned off the engine and placed a kiss on her head. Smiling she reached up and ran her hand through his hair and placed a kiss on his cheek. Smiling he took the cigarette from the tray and placed it back in his mouth before motioning for her to follow. Walking up to the house he lit his cigarette and unlocked the door before offering his hand to her. Coyly taking his hand she let him lead the way into a smaller room filled with pictures, books, and glass display cases full of trophies and awards. Flaky's mouth slightly fell open as she looked around at the many treasures that filled the room; Flippy blew out some smoke as he walked to a bookcase and pulled out a photo album and looked through it quickly before taking it to one of the tables. He took another puff before calling Flaky over, she smiled and stood next to him looking at the book. Looking at the first picture she quickly spotted a teenage Flippy with a cigarette in his mouth even then, to his right was what looked like twins, both with dusty brown hair; to his left was a tall tan built guy with long black hair, and next to him was a smaller guy with white hair. "We called ourselves 'The Beast Within'," he then pointed to the twins, "that one is Jazz and the one with tattoo is Rocker Wölfen, the three of us were friends since we were in diapers," sliding his finger across the picture, "The tall one is Boomer Buffalo and the one with frost hair is Buck Cerf."

Flaky smiled and turned the page and looked over the picture of the boys sitting on a couch, everyone but Flippy had their designated instrument next to them, "That was when we first decided to start our band, we were lucky since Buck's parents were really cool about us taking over the garage." The next few pictures were on them practicing, and everyone was in a different poses. Laughing occasionally at some of the picture of boys simply being boys, but with the next few pictures her attention turned back to the younger Flippy as he started becoming much more buff and defined. She didn't realize she had been starring at a topless picture of him until he rubbed her head and laughed. "At that time I knew my calling was in the service like my dad. So whenever he was home on leave he would have me train with him so I would already be in the best shape of my life before I even went through basics."

"Really, that sounds really intense," she said quietly looking up to him, there was a sadness in his eyes now, she started feeling a bit nervous at what could possibly be going through his mind. Turning to the last page he spoke softly with pain in his voice, "That was our last performance."

"Why, were you getting ready to leave," Flaky asked calmly.

"No…. this was at the beginning of my senior year, and well," there was a long pause and he looked as if he was on the brink of tears, "after the show Jazz decided to just go home instead of coming out with us…. And he was killed in a bad crash."

Flaky gave a little gasp at what he told her and suddenly felt sad, that was one of his lifelong friends whose life was cut short. Pulling him into a tight hug to comfort the painful memories that had resurfaced, wrapping his arms around her in return he rubbed her back and placed a kiss on her forehead. Pulling back he took a deep breath to regain his composure before smiling, "Alright let's not dwell on sad memories. Oh here let me show you one of our performances!"

Taking the DVD from a pouch on the back cover he then motioned for Flaky to follow him into his living room. Once there she sat down on the couch and watched as he placed the recording into his DVD player before joining her. Pulling her close to him the hit play, she replied by laying her head on his shoulder and cuddled up close and watched as his band walk out on stage. Flaky started laughing lightly at the fact Flippy was jumping around and overall acting very energetic. Flippy himself started chuckling at the eccentric younger version of himself, and he actually found it quite amusing to watch. Laying his head on hers and closed his eyes, Flaky too let her eyes shut and let his voice lull her into a light slumber. Smiling he listened to her soft cooing and pulled her a little closer and let out a yawn, sleep was starting to take over his mind too.

Flaky let a yawn and rubbed her eyes before turning over and froze, something felt different; shooting up into a sitting position she franticly looked around at her new surroundings. She was in a large bed with mint green comforter; upon further inspection she recognized it as Flippy's bed room. He probably laid her in his bed after she fell asleep last night, turning her body she placed her feet on the hard wood floor, looking on the nightstand a smile tore across her face. She saw her senior picture sitting on the nightstand; she couldn't believe that he kept that picture so close to him. Turning her attention back to finding Flippy she stood up and tried patting her wild hair down into something that looked tame with little success, giving up she made her way out of the room and heard loud counting. She knew who it was but didn't know why he was counting, following his voice she found herself looking into an exercise room and Flippy wearing his camo pants and his combat boots doing an unknown amount of pushups. His shirt was hanging over a weight set and this gave her a clear view of the scars he had collected, the most noticeable was on his back of an exit wound that looked to be from a sword. Her focus was lost as he turned over and hooked his feet under a restraint and began with sit-ups. Looking over his body she spotted the brother scar to the one on his back, and shuttered just imagining how much pain he much have been in after. Pushing that thought out of her mind she crept closer and sat on the weight bench not wanting to disturb him. Not noticing her at first he continued on, but when he laid fully back he caught a glimpse of Flaky's upper thigh and his eyes widened in shock. Feeling his face heat up he quickly sat up and turned around to face her, "Good morning, I uh… didn't think you'd wake up so soon."

"Well I'm kind of use to getting up early with morning classes and all," she smiled, "so what happened last night? I mean, how did I end up in your bed?"

Rubbing the back of his head he laughed lightly, "I ended up falling asleep shortly after you, so when I woke up for morning training I moved you into my bed. Well since you're up want me to cook some breakfast for us?"

Thinking back to the last time he tried cooking and quickly shook her head, running her hand through his messy green hair she wrinkled up her nose, "I'll cook up something okay, you just go get cleaned up." Her light giggling turned into a yelp as he pulled her into a sweaty bear hug; he couldn't help but laugh as she desperately tried to push him away. Finally letting her go he picked up his shirt, "Okay I get it, I'm disgusting. I'll go shower, but are you sure you don't want me to cook?"

"I'm positive, I've got it under control," she said while trying to wipe the sweat off of her. After he left she made her way to his large kitchen, everything was the same as the last time she cooked at his place, so finding everything was quick and easy. Taking out two pans she placed both on the stove and placed several strips of bacon into the bigger pan and dropped some butter in the other putting it on low heat so it would melt slower. Sitting down in the nearby chair she kept watch of the cooking food and the memories to last night rushed back, it was the perfect date and to top it off she got to fall asleep in his arms. Dreamily sighing she started to forgetting about her surroundings, luckily Flippy had just entered and noticed the bacon grease sizzling and popping, reaching his arm out he blocked some of the stray grease from hitting Flaky. Gasping she was pulled back to reality and saw a small red mark form on his wrist; panicking she rushed to turn down the heat before returning to his side. Tears swelled up in her eyes feeling incredible guilty for his getting burnt, cautiously she looked up at him expecting to be greeted by glowing yellow eyes, instead she met worried green ones. Feeling horrid she let a few tears break free and was quickly pulled into a loving hug, "it's okay Flaky, as long as you're safe."

Wiping the dampness away she said sadly, "but you got hurt."

He looked down at the small red welt below another of his scars and chuckled, "no worries, I didn't even feel it, the pain respecters are pretty much shot from the scar down." Nodding slowly she couldn't really believe that it didn't cause him any pain, "Now cheer up, I want to have a cheerful breakfast with my beautiful red head."

A small smile crept back at his remark, returning to the stove she continued cooking while he made his way over to his coffee pot, preparing the coffee he took out two mugs and calmly waited while listening to her movements. Smiling he poured some into each mug and added cream and sugar to each, making sure it was just the way he knew she liked her coffee. Turning around he noticed Flaky was waited at the island with two plates made up and smiled handing her a mug and joined her. Looking at the food a smile took over his face, it was rare that someone cooked for him, and Flaky's was, in his opinion, the best. Reaching over the table he cupped her face and rubbed her cheek with his thumb, "Thank you for cooking sweetheart."

Leaning into his hand she enjoyed the affection, "It was my pleasure dear." Realizing what she said a blush took over and she bowed her head, a smile took over Flippy's face happy that she called him by something other than his name. Moving his hand down to her chin he gently guided it back up so that she could see how happy he was, leaning across he placed a small kiss on the tip of her nose and added, "Let's eat your delicious cooking before it gets cold." Nodding she smiled and started picking at her food, still flustered by her choice of words.

Finishing his coffee Flippy stretched out; grabbing the mug and empty plates he set them in the sink, returning he wrapped his arms around Flaky's mid section. Nuzzling his head into the crock of her neck, smiling at her light laughter he asked, "Do you have to work today?"

Leaning her head closer to his she replied sadly, "Yeah, I do."

There was a long pause between the two of them before Flippy spoke in a sadder tone, "Well I guess I should get you home some huh?"

Flaky frowned, she didn't want to go and Flippy was making it clear that he'd much rather have her here with him. Nodding slowly she turned so that he could see that she too was reluctant to leave, but her lips ended up telling him just she felt as he had places a kiss on her lips. Moving her hands to the sides of his face she wanted to keep him there as long as she could, he felt the same and held her closer still. Thought it was an innocent display of affection, it held a much stronger meaning to both of them. Placing his forehead on hers they stayed like this just enjoying the closeness, Flaky then rubber her nose against his and smiled when she heard his chuckle. Pulling away he ran his hands down her arms before interlacing their fingers, "Come on sweetie I can't keep you here all to myself."

Standing up she followed behind him and whispered to herself, "I wish you could."

A/N: First thing is when I wrote this Rope by Foo Fighters was a brand new song so there was no karaoke version of it yet hence why he requested it in hopes to get out of singing. Also I can't believe this ended up being almost as long as the first chapter, I didn't realize I wrote that much in each chapter, and sorry guys but they're not going to be getting any shorter and well there will be wait before I post the next chapter. Finally thank you Gura Kruor for favoriting my story!


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of the HTF characters,**

**only the story that I have thrown them in.**

**Warning: This chapter contains Lemon, which mean about a quarter of the chapter contains mature sexual content.**

Chapter III

A month has passed since Flaky and Flippy's real first date, and even though they only had a chance to see each other a few times since then a nightly phone calls had become a daily routine. Tonight was going to be different, there wasn't going to be a call tonight, instead she was going to surprise him with a romantic dinner that she would cooked for them. As she packed all that she was going to need a smile came across her face, this would be an amazing surprise for him, but as she thought more about it a small wave of nervousness came over her. He was the one who always initiated their dates, so he was mentally prepared but this time she was going to catch him off guard, what if he had a relapse and flipped out. Shaking off her negative thoughts she picked up the two bags of supplies and made her way to her car. Normally she would take her Vespa but since it was lightly raining she was going to drive to his place with a hood to keep her dry; that is if it wanted to start. Luckily it started with no problems, stepping on the break she switched gears to reverse and went to back out but stopped as her phone started to ring. Putting it back into park she looked to see who it was, a small smile formed and see answered, "Hi dad."

"Hi sweetie, how are you," her father asked, but his voice held excitement which meant there was something he wanted to tell her.

"I'm fine, how are you and mom," she asked wearily trying to figure out what could possibly be going on.

"Oh we're good. Your mom had this great idea to come visit you for the weekend to see how you're doing on your own," her heart dropped. This was the first time they'd come to see her since they moved off the island, and her mom and her did not end things off on a good note, "So we're going to be leaving tomorrow morning to come see you!" Her jaw dropped, tomorrow was sooner than she was hoping, swallowing hard she gave her father a forced happy response before ending the call.

Covering her face she sighed, now she really needed to get her mind off of things, hopefully Flippy would be able to help her relax. Pulling out of her driveway she made her way to his place in the rain which only brought her mood down more. Pulling into his driveway she gathered the bags and ran to his door trying to avoid getting wet, knocking several times she started to sway nervously waiting for an answer. A moment later the door she had been staring at intensely swung open revealing a rather tired looking Flippy; he had on a white tank and a pair of black basketball shorts, a cigarette in his mouth and a glass of what looked like water in his hand. It took him a second to realize that Flaky was standing there, when he did his eyes widened and he set the water down and stepped out of the way, "Flaky! I wasn't expecting any company, please come in sweetheart."

Stepping in she was hit with a strong smell of cleaning products, looking around cautiously she noticed that almost everything had been moved. Spotting a bucket of soapy water and a cleaning brush she knew something wasn't right, turning to the veteran she asked, "Flippy, what's going on?"

Tapping the ashes off his cigarette in a nearby ashtray and rubbed his sore back, "Well, you see my parents are flying in to visit my uncle and me, and… well the old man is still my C.O. and so everything needs to be perfect for him." Flaky looked at him oddly, not understanding what he meant by 'C.O.', noticing this he dropped his hands back to his side and clarified himself, "Commanding Officer."

Mouthing the word 'oh' she thought about it for a moment and realized that he was in a similar situation to her and his thoughts were just as scattered. "It must be like parents weekend or something," smiling she added, "My mom and dad are going to be visiting too, it's going to be ruff for me too, since well my mom and I aren't really on good terms right now… anyways I brought some steaks."

Grabbing his glass he slowly followed her into the spotless kitchen, sitting at the island in his kitchen he watched her take out the food from one of the bags. He was glad to be taking a break, but even more so that Flaky cared enough to bring food, but the silence was broken when his stomach decided to make it know that he had yet eaten by making a loud growling. Flaky stopped and couldn't help but burst into a fit of laughter; Flippy on the other hand covered his face in embarrassment, he had been so frantic about cleaning that he forgot to eat all day. Once the laughter had subsided he peered though his fingers he quietly watched as she laid the slabs of meat in the pan, "So why are you and your mother on bad terms, if you don't mind me asking.

She stopped what she was doing and her small smile faded, it wasn't that she minded him asking, she just didn't like thinking about it. Setting the spatula down she sighed and turned around to face him, "Well because, I chose to stay behind and go to Happy Tree University. Since I was little she had her heart set on me following in her footsteps and going to Acorn Valley's all girl University, so when they decided to move off the island after I graduated I threw the surprise at my parents, and my mom was not happy at all. Remember when I asked you to help me move about three months before I graduated and said it was to get ready for college."

"Yeah, I'm guessing she kicked you out at that point," he said thinking back, her parents weren't there and the house was almost boxed up, he had always wondered what was really going on but never pressed her for answers. Actually thinking back on it he never really met her parents even thought they all lived in the same town for almost two years.

"Yeah, my dad paid for the house for a while until I started then he said he'd cover tuition but not the house, so that's why I work full time for Petunia," she finished and looked behind her to make sure that everything was cooking up well. After seeing everything was fine she sat next to him and scooted as close as she could.

"That's terrible, punishing you like that just because you didn't go to the college she wanted you to," he said wrapping his arm around her. Taking a drag of his cigarette he placed it in the ashtray he brought with him and blew the smoke away from her, turning his face back he smiled at her. She replied by forcing a smile and placed her head on his shoulder, however it did not stay there long and he leaned in and placed his lips over hers. Smiling wider he pulled away and rubbed the top of head lightly before standing up he stretched his back out a bit, "You finish cooking sweetie, I need to make sure the guest room is ready for their arrival."

Nodding she too stood up and made her way back to the stove as Flippy walked to the guest room for the fifth time. Entering he started examining every little thing to make sure that it was completely aligned. The last thing he needed was his drill sergeant of a father to notice anything out of place because if that were to happen it would mean he would be doing more sets of the exercises he already did daily. Pushing that thought out of his head he stood there and approved of his own work; after that he walked across the hall into his office and made sure he put everything in its proper place. Finally he walked back out into his living room and started pushing the furniture back into the setting he preferred, taking a deep breath and a smile tore across his face, the food smelt delicious. Trying to finish up quickly he grabbed the bucket of water and brush and walked into his bathroom, pouring the water into the tub he opened a cabinet and placed the brush and bucket in and closed the door. Finally returning to the kitchen he saw something he wasn't expecting to see, but knew he was going to enjoy; Flaky had brought candles and set them up, turning off the overhead light she had set up a candlelit dinner. Seeing her sitting waiting patiently for him and a grin took over, joining her at the table he looked her over and even though it was a dim lighting he could still see her shy smile and light blush. Reaching across the table he brushed some stray hair from her face and rubbed her cheek, "This is wonderful sweetheart."

Her blush deepened and she covered his hand with her own, "I hope you enjoy."

As they ate quietly together at this romantic setting they both forget what exactly they were both so wound up about in the first place. Taking his last bite Flippy sighed happily, he absolutely adored her cooking, "Yet again another amazing meal Flaky sweetie."

"T-Thank you," she fidgeted at the complement before finishing her own plate; setting her plate on top of his she carried them over to the sink and set them down. Looking out the window she saw that the rain had now turned into a storm, and when a loud crack of thunder hit she let out a frightened scream. Cowering over slightly she covered her head and stayed there for a moment, then strong arms wrapped around her. Lowering her arms she looked up and thought she saw yellow eyes looking back at her; with a loud shrill scream and pushed him back and covered her head again. Not expecting the shove Flippy fell back hitting his head on a counter top on the way down, sitting up he groaned and rubbed the sore spot. Hearing this Flaky looked through teary eyes and saw Flippy on the floor obviously in pain. Starting to cry she quickly made her way to him, and hugged him closely; he tried to comfort her by stroking her hair and placed a kiss on her forehead, "Flaky its okay I'm here, nothing to be afraid of I promise."

Looking up she met worried green eyes and started crying again hugging him closer still, "I-I'm s-so sorry I thought you w-were gone."

Hearing this he pulled her head to his chest as another crack of thunder hit, shushing her he started stroking her hair again, "I'm here and I'm not going anywhere." Tilting his head down he nudged hers up and placed another kiss on her lips to reassure her, feeling this she relaxed into the kiss now positive he wasn't going anywhere. A second after breaking the kiss Flippy decided he didn't want to end; this time he slowly slid his tongue over her lip hinting at wanting more, feeling her lips part he ventured in. Flaky wasn't sure how to react to his new form of kissing, cautiously she pushed her tongue against his and when he pushed back she felt a new sensation take over her body and let out a soft moan. Flippy replied by laying her on the floor and carefully crawled over her making sure to not break contact; he wanted to see how far she'd allow him to go and started by running a hand down her side. Feeling her shiver under his touch he simply laid his hand on her stomach with his thumb creeping under her shirt and trailed it back to her side, she replied by grabbing his shirt and gently pulled it up. Surprised by her boldness it took him a second to respond but took the hint and let her pull his shirt off and he then slip his hands under her shirt and sweetly rubbed the skin under her breasts and resumed their battle of tongues. Their breathing became heavier as Flaky pushed herself up a bit allowing Flippy to push her shirt off, he then hooked his arms around her back as she wrapped her arms around his neck. Even though her mind was clouded and she was unsure about this entire experience she somehow felt comfortable with it being Flippy and allowed herself to become more confident Running her hands down Flippy's arms she guided his hands over her breasts and gasped when he started massaging them through the thin fabric. Reaching behind her back she unhooked the latches of her bra and went to playing with his hair. Flippy smirked when he pulled away and started kissing down her neck and made his way to her breasts; arching her back at the feeling of his hot breath on her chest. He then used the tip of this tongue to tease one of her now exposed nipples, hearing her moan he covered one with his mouth and lightly bit the sensitive area causing her to shake at the sudden assault on her body. Scratching his shoulders she tried to regain herself, but this proved to be a difficult task as she leaned into him. Laying back on the floor he let her take over, and take over she did. Kissing him she dragged her nails down his chest and stomach before meeting his pants; nervously she untied the small knot and started fumbling when trying to remove them. He decided to help her out by kicking them off his body and then moved his hands to her hips and lightly pushed her petite figure down. Flaky felt his hips slowly grinding against her, sliding a small hand to her partners most intimate area and felt the length of his manhood and began to quiver. Sitting up he ran a hand through her hair, "We don't have to go any farther alright."

She shook her and took a deep breath, she wanted it, "No I… I'm ready for this… with you."

Smiling lovingly he took her hand and kissed it gently, "Then I think we should move to somewhere more suitable."

Nodding they made their way to his room and he stopped her before his bed; she watched him as he knelt down and undid her jeans slowly pulling them down, kissing her thigh he watched her step out of them and smiled. Lifting her up and set her on his bed before reaching into the nightstand and pulling out a condom, Flaky watched as he removed his final article of clothing and slid the protection over his length. She nervously peeled her panties off and kissed him as he guided down on the bed, sliding his hand down between her legs rubbing her opening exciting her more. He then positioned himself before kissing her, "Sweetie this may hurt."

Taking a deep breath she replied, "I'm ready." A pressure started building insider her as he entered, then a sharp pain tore thought her and she cried out. Staying put he kissed her lovingly trying to reassure her and waiting for her to relax. Once the pain dulled she nodded giving him approval to continue, pulling back a bit and reentering he groaned at the warmth and tightness; Flaky also replied by moaning, now that the pain subsided the odd pressure was creating more and more pleasure. Clawing at his back it was starting to become too much for her, and he could sense this as her walls started to tighten around him; leaning in he kissed her neck, "Don't hold back sweetie." She moaned as his breath caressed her neck and bit her lower lip as he changed his pace to a faster one. She pulled his body closer to hers and he replied by nipping her neck, and that was all it took to push her over the edge and yelled out in pleasure. Groaning at her climax he continued his rhythm as she continued to claw his back until he could hold it no longer and pushed into her once more before releasing his seed into the protective layer between their most intimate parts.

Panting he smiled at her and she placed a sweet kiss on his lips, removing himself and threw away the protection in the nearby garbage can and laid down next to her. Taking a hold of her hand he made sure their fingers were interlaced and simply nuzzled next to her. She moved her head to his chest and closed her eyes just happy to be next to him; he too closed his eyes and kissed her head and whispered, "I love you."

Rubbing his eyes and yawning he looked over at the mess of red hair and started playing with it, but once he felt movement he removed his hand to let her turn over and looked into her bright amber eyes and happily sighed. She smiled and moved closer to his firm chest and placed a kiss on his Adam's apple, "Flippy… does this make us…"

She started stumbling over her words but Flippy knew what she meant and cupped her face and kissed the tip of her nose, "I wouldn't want to be with anyone else. I love you Flaky Piquant, and only you."

Blushing she laid her had back on his chest and smiled back and sweetly replied, "And I l-love you too."

Pulling her into a kiss he never thought he'd hear those words from her, the feeling of joy washed over him and actually began to tear up as he kissed her repeatedly. Once she was able to see his face and went to ask about his tears but was interrupted, "God I'm more emotional than Petunia when Handy gets killed. I just never thought I'd hear you say that." Blushing she sat up watching him rub away the remaining dampness, leaning over she placed a kiss on his chest, "Then I'll say it again, I love you Flippy Orso."

Hugging him as he sat up next to her, as they cuddled up to each other Flippy's clock started to chime indicating that he needed to get ready for his parents arrival. Frowning slightly remembering what today meant and ran his hand through her hair and kissed her neck, "Come on let's go get cleaned up.

Rubbing a towel through her hair she felt great after her shower with Flippy, happily holding the towel around her petite frame she walked back into his room to gather her clothes. Stopping she looked over at him and her jaw dropped, she was use to him in either his uniform or casual clothes that she never knew he could clean up so well. Standing before her was Flippy in military dress blues, she kept staring as he finished playing with his tie and carefully slid on his coat; after tugging everything into place he combed back his green hair and placed his beret on top his now tamed hair. Turning round he gave her a proud wide smile, "Well sweetie, what do you think?"

"A-Amazing," she happily answered before hunting down the rest of her clothes, only to be stopped by Flippy who tossed the rest of her missing clothes at her. She tried her best to give him an aggravated look which was answered with a hardy laugh, rubbing her bangs back he placed a gentle kiss on her forehead and held her close, "I'm going to go have a smoke before my folks get here so I'll be in my office if you need me sweetheart."

"Alright," she said calmly reluctantly letting him leave, but as soon as he was out of the room she started sliding back into her clothes from the previous day. After buttoning her jeans she slipped on her shirt and made her way towards his office but stopped hearing the bell being rung followed by Flippy yelling 'shit' and watched as he rush from his office to the door. Heading in the same direction she peered around the corner, and what she saw made her giggle, Flippy was fidgeting like a little kid. He took a deep breath and opened the door revealing an older man with the same green hair but the same yellow eyes that meant death for those around, he too was in dress blues but his had many more decorations on them. Flippy saluted the man and in a firm voice recognized him as 'General Grizzly Orso,' and the man then ordered Flippy to state his rank and name, "Sergeant Flippy Orso, Sir."

The older man smiled, chuckling he pulled Flippy into a hug, "Great to see you again son."

"Good to see you too ol' man," letting his father come in he then hugged a women with copper hair and bright green eyes, "Mom how are you?"

"Very good, how's my boy," she asked in a warm sweet voice, Flaky played with her hair nervously in the background waiting for the family reunion to end. She felt out of place and didn't know if she should enter or just wait in out; jumping a bit she looked up and saw Flippy's eyes shimmering with joy, and he wrapped his arm around her waist. Slowly ushering her along with him she was now exposed to the parents of her new boyfriend, she smiled nervously as Flippy spoke happily, "Flaky sweetheart, this is my mom Rose, and this is my Commanding Officer and father Grizzly. Mom, dad, this is my lovely girlfriend, Flaky."

"It's a pleasure to meet you Flaky," Grizzly said in a rough voice kissing Flaky's hand, though the gesture was kind and gentlemanly she was scared the uncanny similarity Fliqpy had to his father. Flippy noticed how frightened she was as pulled his father aside to explain the situation, Rose then took the chance to speak to her, "Please forgive him, he can be overly assertive at times. It truly is lovely to meet you hunny."

"I-it's nice to m-meet you t-too," she said shyly feeling much more comfortable with his mother but she was still jittery with new people.

Flippy came up and rubbed her back to calm her and smiled happily, "Well mom, dad, I told Uncle Pop we'd meet him for breakfast so we'll need to get going, and Flaky sweetie aren't your parents coming in to town too?"

She gasped and covered her mouth, she had forgot all about her own parents coming to visit, "Oh my god I need to get home and clean and cook and-"

"Shh, calm down. Bring your parents by tonight we'll be grilling alright," he removed his finger from her lips and ran a hand through her hair once again.

"I still need to get home and clean though," she said calmly and turned to his parents, "It was a pleasure to meet you both."

"I hope you can join us for dinner, we'd like to get to know you better," Rose said sweetly and waved and Grizzly nodded and smiled. Flippy then walked her out to her car and opened the door for her. After she got in he leaned in and kissed her with as much passion he could without going overboard. Cupping her face she leaned into his hand and kissed him once more, "I'll see if I can get them to come over." Smiling to one another he reluctantly let her go and closed her car door for her. Buckling up she waved and pulled out and headed home.

A/N: This chapter ended up going into a lot more detail that I expected it to, but I like how it turned out, and I updated a lot sooner that I was originally planning to update, I mean wow three chapters in three days! Also I'd like to send my love and appreciation out to Kohaku-Koneko for the alert and DotDotDot for the lovely comment!


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of the HTF characters,**

**Only the story I have thrown them in to.**

Chapter IV

As Flaky walked into her house a sense of panic took over, it wasn't that her house was a mess, in fact it was very clean, but her mother, they hadn't talked in over a year. Taking several deep breaths she walked to the hall closet and pulled out cleaning supplies and made her way to her kitchen and started to clean down the counters, her stove, and quickly mopped the tile floor. Moving to her living room the cycle started again, stress slowly building as the thoughts of her mom kept rushing back into her mind. Groaning she couldn't wait for this weekend to be over already, wiping her forehead she moved to the bathroom and grabbed more cleaning products from under the sink. Kneeling down she unhappily scrubbed her bathtub trying to make it look like new. After ten minutes of constant scrubbing she decided that it looked clean enough and placed the brush and cleaner back under her sink; now only her room and the guest room needed to be done and both of those would be quick and easy since the guest room just needed to be dusted and hers just needed a few things moved back to its proper place. Grabbing her duster she walked to the guest room and dusted off the dresser and nightstand, sneezing several times she finished as quickly as she could and put the duster back to its respective spot.

Entering her room she fell back on her bed, using her forearm to cover her eyes she sighed part of her didn't even want to pick up her room. As she relaxed the memories of last night and this morning came back to mind and a smile crept on her face. Placing a hand on her lower abs and couldn't help but blush thinking about how she gave him her virginity. She didn't regret it, but she couldn't believe that she didn't back down when he asked if she was sure. Turning onto her side she looked at the picture of the two of them together and smiled happily, she then remembered what he had said about bringing her parents to his place and for some reason she felt that she needed to bring them over so that she could be more courageous toward her mother. Sitting up she looked over to her dresser, the first part of getting her parents to his place would be to finish cleaning. Standing up she decided it was time to finish, grabbing the clean clothes she put them in their designated drawers and grouped her lotion together in one area and dandruff removing products in another.

Finishing her room she checked the time and frowned, they would be here anytime now, rushing to her freshly cleaned bathroom and clean herself up a bit more. After taming her hair the best she could she made her way back to her room and stripped out of her current attire. Finding a knee length dark blue sundress she quickly slipped into it and zipped up the side before looking at herself in the mirror and gave herself an uneasy grin. Running her hands through her wavy red locks she tried to style it with little success. Looking herself over again she tried to prepare herself of her parent's arrival and laughed uneasily at her reflection. Hearing a knock on the front door she gingerly made her way to the noise, and fought with herself if she should answer or go hide until they gave up and went back home. Going with the first option she carefully opened the door and was greeted a tall red haired man with a pair of glasses over his amber eyes. Recognizing him as her father Spike she opened the door wider, "We're here sweetie, and how is my lovely daughter doing?"

"I've been great dad, how are you and mom," she asked trying to keep her composure knowing that her mother was going to be in tow.

"I've been busy with interviews and my father's column," her father was a big name journalist who had interviewed everyone from A-listers to small town shop owners, and he had his own parenting column in a men's magazine. After he entered a woman with darker red hair and blue eyes entered with a sharp eye looking around as if trying to find a murder weapon, this was Riz, her mother. After a second she spoke coolly, "I've been helping your cousin move into her dorm at Acorn Valley," and there was the first jab. Nodding stiffly Flaky acted as if it didn't bother her.

"Glad to here she got accepted. Let me give you a quick tour," she said quickly changing the subject, her father followed happily while her mother move just as stiffly as Flaky herself did. Opening the door to her room and showed her parents the new bedroom set she had recently bought; it was a nice set that Lifty and Shifty gave her 'a good deal' on. Of course it was from Lifty and Shifty so if it was really brand new, or if it really way a good deal was still a mystery. Letting her parents look around she noticed a certain determination in her mother's eyes that made her feel a bit uneasy, and watched as her mother picked up her favorite picture off her nightstand and examine it. As Riz looked it over her expression change to one filled with curiosity. Turning to Flaky she spoke in a much sweeter tone, "Flaky, who's this young man in the picture?"

A blush took over her face and she nervously smiled trying to think of a way to break the news to her parents, "That is… uh… m-my b-boyfriend." There was a long silence, she wasn't sure how they'd take to the news of her new relationship status; surprisingly her father took it incredibly well and pulled her into a hug.

"That's fantastic news, Riz could you let me have a look," he exclaimed before walking over to his wife and carefully took the picture that she handed to him. Looking at it his eyes widened and his mouth slightly hung open, seeing this she fidgeted nervously. The anticipation that came over her made her want to do nothing more than go curl up in a little ball in some place hidden. Riz was the one to break the silence with another inquiry, "What's this name."

"Flippy Orso," she said in an almost whisper, Spike laughed to himself when the name reached his ears. Flaky looked over her father expecting to see some sort of anger but was instead met his eyes shining with excitement. This made her wonder if he knew about Flippy but decided not to ask. Instead she watched carefully as he set the picture back down on the nightstand, taking a breath she added on, "he actually invited all of us to his house for dinner tonight."

"Perfect! There's so many things I'd like to talk to him about," Spike said happily, this only added to the amount of anxiety that had been building up in her since her parents arrival only ten _long_ minutes ago. Nervously she laughed it off then ushered them out of her room and into the guest room so that they could bring in their suitcase and get accustomed to the room they would be staying in for the next few days. Finally she led them into her kitchen and offered them something to drink as they sat the small round table. Looking at the clock on the wall a smile took over it was already four p.m. and that meant she could see Flippy again, and hoped that it would also help her change her mom's mind. Happily she turned to her parents, "Do you want to head over to Flippy's, he's probably expecting us anytime now."

Bursting into a fit of laughter at his father's story and was trying hard to catch his breath; Flippy was thoroughly enjoying how laid back his father had become since the last time he saw him. Grizzly then took another drink of his beer before ending his tale, "The best part was that the pour son a bitch never knew what hit him." The two of them then erupted in another bout of laughter, once regaining his composure Flippy joined his father in enjoying a beer. Before Grizzly could entertain his son with another story from the field Rose walked back into the house carrying Cub as Pop carried in a plate of burgers that had just come off the grill. Turning and looking behind him Grizzly nudged Flippy, "Looks like dinners ready, come one lets go eat." Standing up Grizzly walked into the kitchen, smiling at Cub he gave his young nephew a pat on the head before heading to the food.

Flippy got up to go join the rest of his family in the kitchen but when there was a knock at the door he instead moved to the entrance. Opening the door a smile grew wider as he saw his girlfriend in a dress, bending down he placed a soft kiss on her, standing back up he took notice of the two figures behind her and felt a bit embarrassed. Flaky's cheeks heated up and she spoke softly, "Flippy I'd like you to meet my mother Riz, and my father Spike."

Firmly shaking Spikes hand and greeted him, "Sir." He then turned his attention to Riz and placed a gentle kiss on the back of her hand, "It's a pleasure to meet you both. Please come in and make yourselves at home."

"Why thank you for opening your home to us," Spike said with a bright smile and followed his daughter's boyfriend into his house. After Riz entered Flaky closed the door behind them and followed Flippy and her parents further into his rather large home. As they were making their way to the kitchen Grizzly came into the room to see what was taking his son so long; meeting the gaze of Flaky's parents he chuckled and in a surprised tone spoke, "Well I'll be damned. Riz, Spike, is that you?"

Flaky and Flippy froze and exchanged confused looks with one another wondering how Grizzly knew her parents. Spike too laughed and replied with an outburst of his own, "I knew he had to be your son! Grizzly it's been years, how have you been?" This cause the new couple's jaws to hit the floor, their parents seem to know each other, fairly well at that.

"Is Rose here, I haven't seen her since I gave birth to Flaky," Riz added cheerfully.

"Yeah she's in the kitchen. Hell just follow me, burgers are fresh off the grill," Grizzly waved motioning for them to follow in his direction. As soon as they were out of sight Flippy looked over at the red head next to him completely flabbergasted at what has just occurred before them. Flaky too simply stood there in complete disbelief and slowly turned to look at her boyfriend. After a moment of silence Flippy too her hand in his and too motioned for the kitchen and spoke quietly, "Shall we?"

Nodding slowly she squeezed his hand a bit and together walked towards the room full of people; after entering the sight before them only added to the list of questions that they had for their parents. Grizzly handed an open beer bottle to Spike before they both turned their attention to listening to Pop's view on whatever the current subject was; Rose had just released Riz from a hug and they both sat and began chatting about how long it had been since they saw one another. Flippy and Flaky looked to each other again, there was obviously something that they were both missing and neither could place exactly what is was. Shaking his head trying to get his thoughts gathered and then led Flaky over to their mothers. Flaky went to say something but her words were failing her, Flippy on the other hand said exactly what they were both thinking, "Mom, how exactly do you already know each other so well?"

Both Riz and Rose started laughing only to cause more confusion for the young couple. After the laughter subsided Riz was the one to explain a little about their past, "Flippy, your mother was my prenatal nurse and actually helped in delivering you Flaky dear."

"Really," Flaky asked surprised by her mother's change in mood. Flippy simply nodded thoughts still reeling thought his mind, "And the ol' man and Mr. Piquant know each other…"

"Spike has done multiple interviews with your father," Rose spoke sweetly and Flippy replied with yet another nod. He was at a loss of words so Flaky answered for the both of them, "Well that answers our questions."

The two women laughed lightly at their children's response, and after a moment they left their mothers to play catch up. As they went towards the group of men Flaky's stomach made a small growl, looking over at his now blushing girlfriend he couldn't help but chuckle. Smiling awkwardly Flaky released his hand, "I think I'm going to get some food for myself."

"Alright sweetie, I'm going to get some fresh air," he smiled to her once more before heading in opposite directions. Closing the front door behind him he took a deep breath and headed to the side of his house and pulled out a pack of cigarettes. Flipping open the carton top he pulled out the lighter he had neatly packed inside and then removed a cigarette, lighting up he then placed the lighter back in the pack. Leaning against the side of the house he closed his eyes and took a long drag trying to fully grasp what had just taken place. Releasing a cloud of smoke he, heading movement he turned and saw his red head making her way over to him. Leaning on the wall next to him she smiled and tilted her head towards his shoulder, "Why are you smoking outside? My parents wouldn't have minded you smoking around them."

Smiling he took another drag before holding it between his fingers tapping off some of the ashes. "It's not that. It's my mom, she knows I smoke and doesn't have a problem with it but just doesn't like being around it, can't stand the smell."

Mouthing the word 'oh' she knew where Rose was coming from, she too use to hate the smell of burning tobacco, but after working at the bar and grille for so long she got use to it. Taking a small bite of her hot dog she watched as he blew out more smoke; a moment later Flippy snuffed out the cigarette and returned the remaining half back into the carton. Wrapping an arm around her shoulders he held her close to him and chuckled to himself. Looking up at him quizzically, he smiled, "It's a small world huh?"

Thinking about it she too smiled and started giggling, "It is, isn't it?"

Leaning down he carefully placed a kiss on her lips before resting his forehead against hers; closing their eyes they stood there enjoying the sound of the wind blowing through the leaves. Leaning up Flaky lightly kissed the tip of his nose and smiled hearing him give a small happy sigh. Soon after some laughter hit their ears, turning to the direction of the noise a blush took over both of their faces. Grizzly and Spike were standing there watching the two of them lovingly interact with one another. Taking a step away from Flaky he stood tall and as if at attention, "Sir, I uh…"

"It's okay Flippy, I'm actually happy to see her being treated with the affection she deserves," Spike reassured him that he was okay with not only his actions, but with him being romantically involved with his daughter. Their blushes deepened and he relaxed as Flaky leaned closer to Flippy again while her eyes told Spike how elated she was of his support.

Grizzly smiled at the happy couple before him and ended up being the one to break up the moment, "Come on you two, your mothers were wondering where you two went off to." Turning around he and Spike returned to the house; taking her hand in his they decided it was time to join the small group inside.

After the several fun hours spent at Flippy house everyone decided to call it a night, once home Flaky changed into a pair of yellow cotton shorts and a pink tank and sat in her living room. Curling up on her couch she flipped through the channels trying to find something to watch, giving up she pulled out her laptop from its carrying bag and turned it on to see how everyone else was. Hearing footsteps coming towards her she spotted her mom coming towards her, closing her laptop she was preparing for the worst. Riz sat next to her daughter before clearing her throat, "Flaky, I want to talk to you, about Acorn Valley."

Flaky gave an inward groan, she knew it was coming but was trying to avoid this precise conversation. Beginning to speak she was cut off by her mother, "I don't want you to transfer there. I'd rather see you stay here at HTU."

Her mouth hung open for a second trying to process what her mother just told her, she closed and opened her mouth several more time before words finally came to her, and not in the most gracious way, "Ahh… What?"

"Your father kept me up to date with how you were doing here and I'm very proud of you. I know its hard working full time and maintaining a 3.7 GPA, and I want to apologize for being so selfish about the entire situation. "

Again Flaky found herself at a loss for words, she was completely blindsided by the apology and didn't know how to respond. "Your father still hasn't forgiven me for kicking you out and I don't expect you to forgive me right away either, but I want you know I that I'm truly sorry and I love you Flaky."

A small smile formed as Flaky reached over and hugged her mother closely, so was so happy that Riz finally came to terms with her choices. "I love you too mom."

A/N: Just want to put it out there since it wouldn't fit in the story correctly, Riz did not have a sudden change of heart like it seems. It happened during the time that they were not talking, but was too ashamed of herself to tell Flaky. While she come off snooty at first it was simply because she didn't know how to react and like most parents do had a hard time admitting she was in the wrong. Now that that is cleared up I would again like to send much love out to DotDotDot for R&Ring!


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of the HTF characters,**

**Only the story that I have thrown them into.**

Chapter V

A week after his parents first arrived, Flippy woke up early for his morning exercise, but walking into his living room he met a surprise. To his surprise Grizzly was up reading the morning paper in the almost exact outfit as Flippy, it was now obvious that he was waiting for him. Looking up from the paper before carefully folding it up and setting it down and stood up, "I see you finally decided to wake up."

"Heh, yeah… I wasn't expecting you to be up this early," Flippy said sincerely. Following his father out to his front lawn Grizzly began stretching a bit, "Well need to keep in shape, don't want to be unprepared when I get back to work. So how far are we running this morning?"

"Ten miles, that's all the way around the town," Flippy answered also stretching his legs out.

"Ten miles, are you fuckin' kiddin' me," Grizzly announced. Flippy knew that tone all too well, he was going to have to endure his father's drills, "We're going to double that understood."

"Sir, yes, sir," he answered his father's demand and started running when he was instructed to. He didn't really mind since today was going to be the last day that his parents were going to be here. Keeping up with the pace his father set, he thought about being able to wake up tomorrow and doing whatever he wanted. Tomorrow his life would go back to normal, just like Flaky's had already done. Flaky, he hadn't had a chance to see her since the first night of his parent's visit, with his parents leaving that meant he could spend much more time with her. Smiling the thoughts of his girlfriend infected his mind and he began to slow down a bit. Quickly he came back to reality as he heard his father's rough voice barking at him to speed up. Doing as he was commanded he forced himself to clear his mind of everything but keeping his breathing at a steady pace. The last thing he wanted was to have his father barking more commands at him because that would lead to more exercise that he wanted to do.

After their second lap Flippy placed his hands on his knees and took several deep breaths, he wasn't in the top shape he thought he was still in; Grizzly on the other hand stretched out his legs once more. Looking behind him at Flippy he motioned for the door, "Come on get your ass moving we still have a lot more to do." With a heavy breath he stood up and followed his father into his exercise room and waited for his father's next order, and it didn't take long for that to come, "Alright pushups first, and we don't stop until I say so."

"Yes sir," Flippy stiffly answered his father before dropping to his hands and feet, staying in plank position for a second he dropped down and started counting aloud with his father. Continuing on the smell of bacon filled the air, taking in the scent his mouth began to water; beginning to think of way to convince his father to end early he knew it wouldn't work but the thought was nice nonetheless. "Alright now turn over, five minutes of sit-ups."

Nodding he moved into sit-up position and hooked his feet under a restraint and started counting with his father once again. The first four minutes were fine until his stomach started to fight him about not having any nutrition to give him the extra energy. Groaning to himself he kept up the best he could for the last minute. Once finished with that he laid on the floor hoping that that meant the end until a voice interrupted his moment for relaxation. "Three minutes of crunches and we'll call it a day."

Holding his legs at a 90 degree angle he closed his eyes tightly and began fighting off the oncoming hunger pain. Concentrating on his breathing the three minutes started to seem like it was going to last forever; growling out the last few numbers he heard beeping that meant that it was finally over. Laying back he panted while trying to get his breathing under control. Opening his eyes he was met with a hand offering to help him up, taking the hand Grizzly pulled him up and grinned, "Good job today son."

"Thanks ol' man," Flippy grinned back to his father, "I'm going to see what mom made."

"Alright, let her know I'm just cleaning up a bit and I'll be out," he replied to his son before leaving the room and heading to the guest bathroom. Flippy quickly followed his father out of the room but turned in the opposite direction. Letting his stomach lead the way he entering the kitchen and saw two plates sitting on the island. Quickly making his way over to one he, sat down and began to eat. Rose laughed quietly to herself at how quickly he began eating, "good morning sweetie did you and your father have a good morning run?"

Pausing his ravenous consumption of food he looked up towards his mom and stared like a deer in headlights. After a short moment he finished what he already had in his mouth and took a sip of his mom's special morning tea before answering, "Oh, well intense, you know him drill sergeant."

Laughing softly again and sat next to him taking a sip of her tea and spoke sweetly, "I can't believe we've already been here a week."

Nodding he took several more bites of his breakfast before again sipping from this tea, "I know. So are we still going to visit Aunt Mum?"

"Of course, Pop will be here by noon to come pick me up."

"Wait what about me and the ol' man," Flippy said very confused at what she could have possible meant by that.

"Your father wants the two of you to go separately… there's something he wants to talk to you about," he noticed how she was hesitant when she spoke. This threw up a red flag for Flippy, Slowing down his eating and his mind began to whirl with the many of things that it could possibly be. Just then his father joined them; kissing Rose on the cheek he walked around and sat across from Flippy. Sipping his tea he began to eat, and Flippy carefully looked him over trying to see if his father's expression held any clues. Not seeing anything he drank the rest of his tea and excused himself "Thank you mom for the wonderful breakfast. I'm going to go get cleaned up."

"You're welcome sweetie," she said in her normal sweet tone. Making his way into the master bath his mind was still reeling with all the possibilities that his father could want to talk to him about. Stripping down he stepped into the shower he let the still warming water hit his skin, leaning his head forward the water started to trail down his face; the only two things that came to his mind were that his father was going to tell him he didn't have long to live, or that he was going to be called back to the line of duty. Shaking his head he tried to convince himself that it was going to be good news.

Grabbing the bar of soap he began to wash himself down, swapping the soap for shampoo and started to scrub his wet hair. Moving his head back under the stream rinsing out his hair and simply stood there clearing his mind of what was to come. He stood there for several more minutes before turning off the water, opening the glass door he grabbed a towel and started drying himself off and made his way into his room. Pulling on a white tee he reached into a drawer and slid on the first pair of boxers he grabbed. Walking to his closet he took a clean pair of jeans and stepped into them. Sitting on his bed he slipped on his watch and looked at the time, surprise took over as he realized just how long he stayed in the shower. Pop would be there soon and then they were all going to head out and visit his aunt; putting on a pair of socks he picked up his boots and slid them on before quickly lacing them up the rest of the way.

Walking back out to join his parents he heard a knock at the door and quickly turned to answer it, turning the knob he revealed Pop with Cub in his arms. "Hey Uncle Pop, come on in."

"Thank you Flippy, is Rose ready," he said with a sad tone as he walked in, as they made their way to the kitchen Rose walked out and gave Pop a hug. Smiling sadly he knew they were both sad about going to see his Aunt Mum. Pulling away Rose looked over to him, "Alright Flippy we're going to head out, see you and your father there."

"Alright," he said and watched the two of them leave before peering into the kitchen, "Hey ol' man you ready?"

"Yeah, go start your truck I'll be out in a minute," he said calmly; nodding Flippy made his way to his truck and hopped into the driver's seat and started up the engine. Grizzly joined him and buckled up, backing out of his driveway Flippy then made his way to where they needed to go. They sat in silence and his mind started to go back to Grizzly needing to talk to him. Taking a deep breath be asked, "Hey mom said you needed to talk to me?"

"Yes, but it can wait for now," he replied coolly. Nodding he kept quiet, pulling into Happy Tree Cemetery and parked behind Pop's car. Sighing he stepped out of the car with his father and headed up a hillside and met both his mother and Pop crying while Cub traced the letters of his mothers headstone. It had already been a year since his is Aunt Mum's death in a plane crash when she was flying out of town for a job. He stood next to Pop as Grizzly wrapped his arm around his wife who was mourning her sister's death. Choking back some tears Flippy picked up one of the roses that Pop had bought and knelt down next to cub, placing the white rose at the top of her head stone and smiled weakly to Cub. Cub replied by pointing to the stone and in his young innocent voice said, "Momma."

"Yeah, that's your momma," he pat his cousin on top of his head before standing back up and wiped away his tears, his aunt was the one who took him in after he got back from war; she was the one who reassured him that he could live and would be safe, and for that he couldn't thank her enough. Taking a deep breath he regained himself and watched as Pop, Rose, and Grizzly did the same. Grizzly slowly lead Rose away after several more minutes and Pop picked up Cub and blew a kiss to it before leaving Flippy there alone. "I never got a chance to say this but thank you for showing me that I still had a life worth living. We all miss you a lot," making a heart with his hands he held it out towards her grave; it was something the two of them had done since he was a kid, and for some reason he felt as if she was doing the same back to him. Smiling he dropped his hands down and made his way back to his family.

Getting back into his truck with his father he stared the engine when Grizzly broke the silence, "Your mom is going with your uncle for a while, let's just head back to your place." Nodding he put the truck in drive and headed back to his house. The silence only added to the anxiety that began to build up, and his mind when right back to trying to figure out when exactly what the talk was going to be about. Unlocking the door they walked to the two closest chairs and each took a seat. "As you know there is something I need to talk to you about."

"Yeah," Flippy said taking a deep breath and prepared himself for whatever the news may be. Grizzly carefully reached into his coat pocket and pulled out an envelope and slowly handed it over to his son. Swallowing hard he took it and what he read made his stomach drop; the stamp on it was that of Forest Special Forces and was addressed to SGT Flippy Orso. He didn't have to open it to know what it contained, but he kept starring hoping that the letter would magically be from someone else. "With the Scorpion Army now getting support from local terrorist organizations a lot of vets are being called back to duty," Grizzly added in a firm tone.

His eyes dilated and he crumpled up the letter as he balled up his hand into a fist, "Bull… Shit… This is complete and fucking _BULL SHIT_! I've finally found peace in my life and they want to throw me back into a living hell!"

"Flippy you're not the only one being called back to duty, you knew when you signed up for the Special Forces that this could have happened," Grizzly snapped back at his angered son.

"I don't give a _FUCK_ how many others get call ba-" he was cut off by his father taking a swing, landing it right on his jaw. Flippy was taken aback, turning his head back to face his father he was met with a disapproving glare.

"Have you forgotten what you are soldier," Grizzly barked angrily at him, lowering his eyes he shook his head. "Then stand up straight look forward and repeat your creed back to me."

Flippy did as his father commanded:

"I am a Forest Special Forces soldier.

I will do all that my nation requires of me. I am a volunteer, knowing well the hazards of my profession.

I serve with the memory of those who has gone before me. I pledge to uphold the honor and integrity of their legacy in all that I am – in all that I do.

I am a warrior. I will teach and fight whenever and wherever my nation requires. I will strive always to excel in every art and artifact of war.

I know that I will be called upon to perform tasks in isolation, far from familiar faces and voices. With the help and guidance of my faith, I will conquer my fears and succeed.

I will keep my mind and body clean, alert and strong. I will maintain my arms and equipment in an immaculate state befitting a Special Forces Soldier, for this is my debt to those who depend upon me.

I will not fail those with whom I serve. I will not bring shame upon myself or Special Forces.

I will never leave a fallen comrade. I will never surrender though I am the last. If I am taken, I pray that I have the strength to defy my enemy.

I am a member of my Nation's chosen soldiery, I serve quietly, not seeking recognition or accolades. My goal is to succeed in my mission - and live to succeed again.

De Oppresso Liber…"

"Good you remember," Grizzly growled still glaring at his son for how he had acted only moments ago.

Rubbing his jaw he lowered his eyes and sat back down across from his father and looked at the crumpled up envelope. Frowning he spoke quietly, "When," Grizzly gave him a questionable look as he continued, "When will I be leaving."

Pulling out another small packet and handed it over to Flippy, looking at it he realized that it was a plane ticket to the town outside base where he'd being going through basics again, "Next Friday. I'll have a unit pick you up from the airport… I know it's soon, but we need seasoned soldiers on the field," He explained. Nodding slowly he tried to take it all in without having another melt down, taking several deep breaths a face suddenly came into his mind, Flaky. How was he going to tell the girl he'd been officially dating for a week that he was going to be going overseas for a year, possibly more. He felt his heart suddenly breaking as he thought about having to tell her, "I… I'm going to lie down for a while."

Without saying much else he stood up and made his way to his room; throwing himself onto his bed he placed the plane ticket on the nightstand and looked at Flaky's picture and a tear ran down his cheek. Wiping the tear away he turned his head to the opposite side and took several deep breaths to keep himself from crying. Covering his face he couldn't believe that this was happening to him, happening right now. Closing his eyes again and tried to find his center and calm his minds, there were too many things going on right now, and he wasn't thinking straight.

An hour later there was a light knock on his door, opening his eyes again he realized he must have fallen asleep; sitting up he called, "Come in."

Rose then opened the door and entered carefully, making her way over she sat on the edge of the bed. She then started to rub her son's hair back trying to sooth the pain that his heart was feeling. "I know sweetie, it's not going to be easy but things like this never are."

"How did you deal with it when dad was called back to service," Flippy asked wanting to know what he was going to be in for when he told Flaky the truth. Once his mother stopped he knew that it wasn't going be easy to hear.

"I was devastated when he told me, I couldn't stop crying. Though my circumstances were a lot different also. We were already married and I was pregnant with you, and I was terrified to go though my pregnancy alone, and I was equally terrified that he wouldn't come home. But it did get easier, after every letter I felt more confident about his home coming, and lo and behold he came home the day before you were home."

Nodding he sat up next to his mother and hugged her, somehow what she had just said gave him a little reassurance. She hugged him closely and smiled before standing up and motioning to the door, "Come, your father and I will be leaving shortly."

A/N: Shorter chapter but that's because I actually cut the chapter in half. Anyways might get the next chapter up tomorrow, if not it will take a few more days due to work. Anyways lots of love to Mitchi-Chan for the comments, fav, and alert, and of course lots of love to DotDotDot. Until next time my lovelies!  
>[Edit] Fun fact: the creed that Flippy repeated back to his father is actually the US Army Special Forces; the only difference is that I changed it to Forest to match the story.<p> 


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of the HTF characters,**

**Only the story I have thrown them in.**

Chapter VI

Opening her front door Flaky happily greeted Lammy and let her in before they joined the other two girls that were sitting in her living room. It had been a long time since they had a girl's night in and Flaky was more than happy to host it. Giggles sat on the floor in front of the couch and was currently painting her toes so when Lammy arrived she just waved to her since moving wasn't an option at the moment. Petunia on the other hand stood up and gave her a hug and scooted over on the couch so that Lammy could join her. Excusing herself Flaky returned to her kitchen and poured the freshly popped popcorn into a large plastic bowl before returning to the group; sitting next to Giggles on the floor she saw that Lammy took no time in braiding Petunia's long blue hair. Holding the bowl above her head the two on the couch took a few pieces before Flaky lowered the bowl and set it between her and Giggles. Finishing with one foot she capped the hot pink nail polish and looked up to Petunia, "Who do you have running the bar tonight?"

"Cro-Marmot, he's the only one I trust to keep Toothy in line," she said with a sigh.

Lammy smiled and laughed softly, "Let me guess, if Toothy wasn't Handy's younger brother he wouldn't be working there."

She nodded in response and both Flaky and Giggles laughed knowing how clumsy and airheaded he could be. Though Flaky felt the need to stick up for him a bit, "Well you have to admit that his heart is in the right place."

Smiling she couldn't help but agree with Flaky, he was trying his best to do all that he could, "Enough about work, Lammy are we ever going to meet this mysterious fiancé of yours?"

Giggles and Flaky both quickly turned their attention to Lammy whose face was overcome with a deep blush. Smiling innocently she turned her attention away from Petunia's hair, "Soon, he's almost done with his overseas studies. After that he'll be moving here so we can start planning our wedding."

They all responded with awe's and Lammy turned her attention back to the braid she was close to finishing. After tying the end with a light yellow ribbon she spoke again, "What about you and Handy? Are you two planning on tying the knot anytime soon?"

Playing with her pine tree necklace a small smile crossed her face, "I hope so, I mean we've been dating for just under five years now. I just don't think he feels confident that he'll be a good husband because of… well you know."

Lammy nodded before turning her attention to the younger girls, "Giggles how are you and Cuddles? I mean you just had your one year anniversary right?"

Laughing lightly she happily replied, "Yes we did, it was so romantic! I really didn't think he could pull something like that off so it was really a nice surprise, I've never been happier!" Everyone then turned to the youngest of their small group; Flaky gave a nervous laugh as all eyes were on her, "What about you Flaky, we're all dying to know just how you and Flippy are doing, you _did_ meet each other's parents right?"

Fidgeting she started rolling the fabric of her shirt in-between her fingers and forced a smile, "W-well my parents like him, and his parents like me," she started leaving out the detail of their parents already knowing each other. "A-and overall we've been great, he hasn't flipped out since he emitted himself in the hospital… but the past two days he's been acting a little more distant. I don't know if it was something I did, or if he's just enjoying his alone time since his parents left the other night."

Leaning down Petunia pulled Flaky into a hug and reassured her, "You haven't done anything wrong sweetie. He's like Handy in the way that after a lot of excitement they like being alone, I'm sure he'll come around just let him relax a bit and he'll be all about you again."

"Yeah, I mean you two are just too cute together, there is no way there could be any problems," Giggles chimed in. Flaky smiled, her friends were right, she was just looking too much into it. After releasing the red head she switched places with Lammy and gently started playing with her shoulder length white hair. Giggles took the cap off the nail polish again and started on her second coat, "So Flaky are you excited for classes to start again? I mean it sucks that summer is coming to an end, but I'm so excited about my student teaching."

Nodding she was glad to be doing something besides working, "Yeah, I'm looking forwards to the creative writing course, and regardless of Nutty being in the class I'm really looking forward to advanced baking."

"Oh, advanced baking I'm jealous, I still can't get into the beginner class, it's always full when I go to register, it's so not fair," Giggles said with a huff about the last bit.

Lammy laughed as Petunia still played with her hair, "That's why I'm so happy I went to beauty school, didn't have to fight to get in a course. Anyways what movie did you bring for tonight?"

Capping her nail polish again she reached into bag and pulled out a DVD case and smiled, "Dear John. I'm totally in love with this move right now and I know you've wanted to see it Lammy."

"Oh I'm so excited," Lammy said cheerfully and clapped her hands together and gave a wide smile. Petunia and Flaky couldn't help but start laughing at how joyous she had become. Flaky then handed the popcorn back up to the girls on the couch and took the movie, placing it in her DVD player she picked up the remote and sat back next to Giggles. Once at the main menu she pressed play, setting the remote down she reached up and took a small handful of popcorn and picked at few pieces as they began to watch the movie intently. About ten minutes in there was a knock on the door causing Flaky to jump slightly; the girls then looked to one another trying to figure out who could possibly be here, "are you expecting anyone else Flaky?"

"No," she paused the movie and stood up, "I'll be right back." Walking to the entrance she unlocked her door and slowly opened it to see who could possibly be here; revealing a very stiff Flippy standing , but as soon as their eyes she noticed that they were brimming with sadness. As soon as he saw her he broke down and before Flaky could even speak he placed his lips over hers and pulled her into a deep kiss. Staying like this for several seconds she pulled away, and as soon as she did he fell to his knees. Wrapping his arms around her waist she hugged her closely and buried his face into her stomach and tried not to cry, "God I love you so damn much Flaky…"

She was taken aback at his actions and didn't know how to react; she simply placed her hands gently on his shoulders. Sweetly rubbing the tense muscles and with a small amount of fear asked, "Flippy w-what's wrong?"

Staying silent for a moment he tried to find the words he would need to tell her what his abrupt visit was about, but his voice was failing him. Slowly sitting back on his heels he lowering his head so she couldn't see the hurt that written all over his face. Shakily reaching into his pocket he pulled out the letter that would explain it all, biting his quivering lip he raised his hand up and let her take the paper from his hand. Fear now overcame her as she unfolded the letter, slowly she started reading over it, tears swelling up she read over it again to make sure she read it correctly. Now tears were trailing down her face freely letting go of the letter it carelessly floated farther into her house. She was visibly shaking as she cried out, "This isn't fair!"

Hearing her outburst the three girls jumped up from their spots, looking to one another they all headed to the front door to see what the commotion was. Lammy was the first one there and saw Flippy on his knees hugging Flaky's mid section and she was barely standing on her own as she huddled over him bawling. Rushing over to the two she placed a hand on Flaky's back, "What's the matter?"

Giggles and Petunia stood back a bit staring not knowing what to do, but the letter on the floor caught Giggles attention, gingerly she picked it up and read it over. Gasping she covered her mouth and looked at Petunia with wide eyes, quickly she grabbed Lammy's arm and pulled her and Petunia back into her living room. Once they were all focused on her she spoke in a panic-ridden voice, "This is why they're so upset… Flippy has been called back to the line of duty."

Both of the girls reacted with a gasp and exchanged worried looks to one another. After standing silent they slowly made their way back to the distort couple and watched as Flippy was now trying to calm Flaky's tears. Petunia crept over and placed her hand on his shoulder, "When are you leaving?"

"Friday morning, so a little less than a week," he said with his eyes still trailed to the floor, "Flaky I'm so sorry, I didn't know you had company."

She shook her head and tried to speak but couldn't find her voice so Lammy spoke for her, "Nonsense, this is very important, come join us, let's all go get our mind off this."

Shifting his eyes to Flaky he seemed to be asking if it was okay for him to join them; she answered by nodding as she continued to wipe away the still leaking tears. Carefully scooping Flaky up he carefully stood and started following the girls back to where they were, Petunia let Flippy take her seat. Sitting he carefully setting Flaky in his lap and held her close as her crying slowly started to subside. The girls also took up their spots and Giggles said, "Hope you don't mind we're watching a chick flick."

"I don't mind," he said still carrying a sad tone in his voice. As Flaky finally calmed down and started chatting with her friends every now and again, but the movie still kept most of all of their attention. As the movie continued Flippy noticed how the girls started to tear up as the lead male started asking his girlfriend whether or not he should reenlist due to a recent attack, but it wasn't until the leads father died and he said 'goodbye' to his now married ex that the tears started pouring. Flaky buried her face into his chest and started crying while Lammy leaned on his shoulder and Giggles and Petunia each leaned on a leg of his, he literally became the communal shoulder to cry on. He didn't mind being everyone's shoulder, but the movie struck a chord with him; since the lead was also a sergeant in the Special Forces and only spent two weeks with his girl before having to leave her. The movie had his mind reeling he didn't want their relationship to end the same way. As the credits started rolling the girls sniffled and continued to wipe away the dampness from their faces and Flippy shrugged uncomfortably in his wet shirt and made a suggestion, "let's not watch another romance movie please."

Sniffling Lammy spoke teasingly, "why, was it too mushy for you?"

"No, it's too wet," he said getting laughter in reply.

"Alright I'll pick the next one," Flaky said slowly and reluctantly removed herself from her boyfriend, walking over to her movie collection and grabbed the first comedy movie she could find and swapped out DVD's. Turning back to the group and saw that Flippy took off his wet shirt, a blush took over as she walked back and resumed her cuddling in Flippy's lap. As Giggles pressed play she went back to painting Petunia's nails and Flaky let Lammy play with her hair, Flippy watched with a smile as her naturally messing hair was being styled into something tame. Blushing Flaky ran her thumb over his five o' clock shadow and moved to tracing the lines of his smile and happily smiled as his eyes began to close. Seeing this the girls turned their attention to him and giggled as he began to make a purring sound as he slept.

As the movie came to an end Giggles stood up and stretched before picking up her bag, "well I'm going to get going, Cuddles wants to go to breakfast before he goes to work."

"Me too, Dylan should be just getting off work so I will be able to call him," Lammy said with a joyous smile.

Flaky and Petunia stood up and walked their friends out, waving she turned to Petunia with a weak smile. Sadly looking her over she pulled her into a close loving hug, "come sweetie let's talk."

Nodding she followed her into her kitchen and sat down at the table with her, reaching across the table she held Flaky's hands. She knew that her young friend would start crying at any second, "I know how hard this is going to be, but Flaky, it's going to be okay. All you can do is support him."

Lowering her head she knew Petunia was right, but she didn't want to let him go, squeezing Petunia's hands she choked on a sob and tears started falling again. Scooting next to Flaky she pulled her into another hug and let her cry and rubbed her back. After several minutes Flaky's crying stared to calm down again and she leaned back and looked at Petunia through teary eyes, she pushed some of her friends red bangs from her damp face and rested her hands on her shoulders, "Just enjoy and cherish every moment you have with him while he's still here okay."

"O-okay," she choked out and hugged Petunia once again. Once she was released the bluenette stood up and gave her a sad smile, "I should get going too sweetie, but remember what I said okay."

Nodding she stood up and walked her out, locking the door behind her; slowly she walked back into her living room and turned off the TV, picking up the letter from an end table she sat next to her sleeping no longer ex soldier. Holding the letter she stared at it hoping it would give her the answers to the questions she had. Frowning the tears started pouring again, silently sobbing to herself she felt hopeless. Curling up she covered her face and slowly laid her head into his lap; choking on her sobs it seemed like there were not tears left for her to cry tonight. Gripping the letter in one hand she tightly closed her eyes; which were feeling very heavy and her mind was starting to shut down not wanting to think about anything anymore.

A/N: So fun fact. Up until today I have never watched Dear John, and the only reason I watched it was because I needed to know what I was talking about since I was going to include it in my fic. After watching it I realized the similarities and just wanted to let ya'll know I did not use that as a base for my story. Anyways the next chapter will probably be up in a few days since I work a lot the next few days. As always much love to Kohaku-Koneko for the review and fav, and of course much love to DotDotDot!


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of the HTF characters,**

**only the story I have thrown them into.**

Chapter VII

Flippy yawned loudly and stretched out his arms, he had to blink a few times before his eyes adjusted to the light, and once they did he grinned realizing he was in Flaky's living room. Remembering he fell asleep sitting on her couch he tried to move his leg and felt a weight in his lap. Smiling he carefully pushed her bangs from her face; the smile quickly faded noticing how red her cheeks were, and instantly he knew that she had cried herself to sleep. Guilt fell over him as he closed his eyes tightly and took a deep breath; opening his eyes again he carefully shifted out from under her before gently picking her up, carrying her to her bed. Pulling the blankets down he crawled in, laying her down he watched as she nuzzled up to his chest. With a sad smile he watched her until he noticed something clenched in her fist; removing it from her grip he was face to face with his letter once again. Leaning his head back he let it fall from his hand onto the floor and pinched the bridge of his nose furrowing his brows. He hated seeing her so distraught, but the fact that he was the reason for her tears felt like someone shot him straight through the heart. Sighing he took his hand away from his face and started playing with some of her loose strains of hair and started mulling over way to cheer her up. Feeling movement next to him he reopened his eyes and bet two bright amber orbs, "Flippy, what's wrong?"

He gave her a weak smile and placed a soft kiss on her forehead, "I just hate seeing you like this sweetie, and I never wanted to be the one to make you like this."

"It's not you… it's the situation, I love you Flippy and I'm going to miss you terribly… and I…" she said moving closer to him and squeezed her eyes closed not wanting to cry anymore. Pulling her closer he placed his forehead against hers, slipping his hand in hers and laced his fingers around hers; squeezing his hand she calmly listened to his breathing. "I love you so damn much Flaky, and you have no idea how much its killing me that I don't have a choice in this, but I promise on the love I have for you that I will come back alive. I don't care how many people I have to fight to get back home, but I will take down every last one of them."

"And I promise you I will wait until you come home, not matter how long, I'll be here when you get back," she then placed a light kiss on him before squeezing his hand once more. Smiling he was so ecstatic to hear her say that, holding her closely they lay next to each other calmly, simply enjoying the time they were spending together as a couple.

Several hours later Flippy woke up once again with yet another yawn and grinned as he felt Flaky running her hand through his hair. Smiling she started giggling as he stretched, she waited for him to settle before resuming running her fingers through his hair. She was trying to remember just how it felt because after this week she didn't know the next time she'd have a chance to run her hand through his soft green locks, "Did you enjoy your extra few hours of sleep?"

"You're here with me so there's no way I wouldn't enjoy being next to you," he reached up and cupped her face; leaning into his hand she let him guide her down into a passionate kiss. After lingering for several seconds she moved into a sitting position and Flippy followed suit, swiftly pulling her back into a lip lock. Holding her there he never wanted to leave; he just wanted to say there with her forever. As they slowly parted from one another's touch a smile crept across both faces. Not wanting to be without his touch she placed her head on his shoulder, "You should probably find your shirt so we can go get lunch or something."

Furrowing his brows he groped his chest and to his surprise only felt his dog tags, but it quickly dawned on him why it was missing. "Well if I wasn't the community tissue I'd still have it on," he said teasingly and caught Flaky's sideward glance and laughed as she scooted off the bed, "I never said I wasn't okay with it."

Rolling her eyes she peeled off her night shirt and covered her breasts with the first bra she grabbed, pulling on a dull yellow tank. Removing her pants she felt eyes watching her, blushing she turned and saw Flippy still sitting on her bed. Looking up he smiled, "What? You're beautiful."

Giggling her blush turned a shade deeper, "Go get your shirt."

Laughing he stood up and made his way out of her room and started his search for his missing shirt while she finished changing her clothes. Quickly finding it he slid it back over his chest happy that the damp spots had dried up. Hearing Flaky's door close he turned to look at her and was surprised that she had changed her shirt again, but was even more so when he noticed a bikini top underneath it. Smiling she walked into her bathroom for a no longer than a second and retrieved a towel, joining him she fidgeted with her ponytail, "um… let's go to the lake."

Grinning like an idiot he chuckled softly before replying, "Let's go to the lake."

After the short pit stop at Flippy's house to change into his swimming trunks they were heading to the only fresh water lake on the island to spend the day together. Driving there Flippy joyously sang along with the songs on the radio, Flaky joined in every now and again but mostly hummed along so she could take in his voice. Driving though the wooded dirt road they finally came upon the shore and to their surprise Giggles and Cuddles seemed to have the same idea. As he parked he turned and placed a kiss on her cheek before saying, "Looks like we're not the only ones here huh?"

"Yeah… I thought Cuddles had to work today," she said with confusion. Shaking her head slightly she opened the passenger side door and hopped out as Flippy did the same and met him in front of his vehicle. Taking his hand they made their way down to the shore but before they were even close to it Giggles noticed them. Bolting up she hugged Flaky, "Oh my gawd, what are you guys doing here?"

"We just wanted to get away for a bit, what about you I thought Cuddles had to work," Flaky gave her friend an one armed hug before joining her on the walk back to where she came from.

"He did, but Lifty and Shifty stole some of the coaster tracks for some reason, and well, let's just say it wasn't pretty. So everyone was told to go home so that they could get everything fixed," she said with a slight cringe. The couple replied in unison with an 'oh' as they finally arrived at the picnic area that Cuddles and Giggles had set up. Cuddles smiled seeing his friends, "Flippy! Flaky! I'm surprised you guys decided to come here too."

"Flaky suggested it and today seems to be a perfect day for it," Flippy smiled and removed his shirt and took a set on the blanket that was spread out.

"Oh man, you always have to steal the show don't you, and here I was hoping to show off my muscles," Cuddles said jokingly and joined the group in a small bout of laughter. After they calmed down Giggles then offered up her basket, "Are you guys hungry I brought food."

"Food that's what I forgot to bring," Flaky exclaimed before lightly tapping the heel of her hand to her forehead, "I would love some if you don't mind."

"Go for it we brought more than enough," she smiled to her red haired friend pulling out one of the mini sandwiches she made and handed one to everyone and then passed around a small bottles of lemonade. Flippy unwrapped the triangular sandwich before taking a hungry bite out of it, seeing the Flaky couldn't help but smirk at her boyfriend's antics. Quietly the group ate enjoying the serene atmosphere away from the insanity that took place on an almost daily basis. "Thank you so much Giggles it was delicious."

"Not a problem! Oh Flaky there's something I want to show you come on," she jumped up and helped her friend up before tugging her along to the woods leaving the two guys alone."

"So Giggles told me you've been called back to service," Cuddles said digging his toes into the sand.

"Yeah," he said calmly, "I'm not happy to be going, but I don't have a choice. It's go back or face jail time."

"Jail time," Cuddles exclaimed clearly in shock from the bit of information he just learned.

"Yeah, if you don't report for active duty you're considered to have gone AWOL, and it's a lengthy process. Plus with my ol' man being one of my C.O.'s it would just look really bad for the both of us," he explained to the younger boy.

"Wow, I never knew that, man that really sucks," he replied, "How's Flaky taking the news?"

"Hard, very hard, but I really wasn't expecting her to react any other way. It still hard seeing her so upset," he said playing with his dog togs.

"I can only imagine, man I don't know how I would be able to tell Giggles something like that, or even deal with how she would be afterwards," he said with a sadder tone.

Chuckling he looked over to the younger, "Be glad you'll never have to."

Silence fell between the two boys, but it didn't last long as laughter started heading their way as the girls returned from whatever escapade they had originally left on. Laying back into the sand he watched Flaky come within eye shot and smiled seeing her laughing like nothing had ever happened. Giggles quickly tugged Cuddles up and towards the lake to swim with here. As she sat back up he couldn't help but chuckle, "She's just an unlimited well of energy isn't she?"

"That's what makes her Giggles," Flaky replied, then turned her attention to removing her top and shorts leaving her in just her brown and pink bikini. She then took up Flippy's hand and motioned to the lake, "Come on let's go swim."

Nodding he stood up and jogged to the lake and jumped in and swam out a bit, bringing his head above the surface and shook the water from his hair and watched as Flaky was easing her way into the water. Smirking he couldn't help himself, waiting till she was in about knee deep; slowly swimming closer he waited till she turned her attention to Cuddles and came up behind her. Planting his feet in the sand he launched himself up and grabbed his girlfriend and fell back into the water bringing her with him. Yelping her quickly pushed herself free and jumped up and stood there in shock, ignoring her friend's laughter she turned to Flippy who had just resurfaced again and without thinking dove after him. Seeing her come after him he started to swim back into deeper water to avoid her attacks; once she realized she wasn't going to be able to catch him she slashed water in his direction, "I'll get you back for that!" Laughing he watched as she made her way be to her friends once more, swimming back over again he joined their conversations. Keeping his eye on Flaky the entire time to make sure she didn't try anything.

After about an hour in the water they all migrated back to shore; drying off Flippy noticed Flaky's eye held a glimmer of mischief and decided to call her out one it, "Don't even think about."

Without missing a beat she started to make her way towards him, seeing this he began running to the woods with Flaky hot on his heels. Turning around he started running backwards and went to taunt her but ended up tripping and falling back, and in a flash Flaky was sitting on him proudly and laughing. "What are you laughing at," he said with a chuckle.

"Karma," she said still giggling about him falling back.

"Well you know what," he said wrapping his arms around her and in one swift move stood up and had her gently pinned between a tree and himself. Placing a soft kiss on her lips he replied, "This is what I think of karma."

Smiling she wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him several times before tilting her head and placed a kiss on his neck and was replied with a soft purr. Resting her head on his shoulder they stayed there like that for several long seconds, "God I'm going to miss you so much," he broke the silence and carefully placed her back on her feet.

"I'm going to miss you too," she said pressing herself against his arm as they finally started walking back to the other couple that was there. Seeing them come back out of the woods Cuddles couldn't pass up the opportunity that arose, "Hey welcome back, you two better have been playing nice in there."

Both of them blushed too embarrassed by what he had implied to say anything, but regardless of that they both held the same thought, what a perfect day.

A/N: Okay I yet again cut a chapter in half so that it wouldn't be extremely long. I probably would have had this chapter up last night but the power outage made sure that would not happen. Also much love to ButterfliesOfBlue, Kohaku-Koneko, Mitchi-chan, DotDotDot, and Emily for all your loving reviews, and love to the killer imperfectionist for the fav!


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of the HTF characters,**

**Only the story I have thrown them in.**

**Warning: This chapter contains Lemon.**

Chapter VIII

Waking up Flippy looked to the blob of red next to him and couldn't help but fall in love all over again; for the past few days Flaky had stayed by his side. Helping him pack the things he was going to need, but more than anything was spending as much time with him as she possibly could, and he was enjoying every last second. Kissing the top of her head he realized that today was his last day with her, tomorrow morning a taxi was going to come and pick him up and he'd be leaving her behind to fight for his country once more. From then it would only be a matter of time before he was deployed and back in charge of a small group of privates, pushing that thought out of his head he checked his clock and was taken by surprise then the time shone brightly eleven thirty. Feeling the warmth next to him sit up and stretch he chuckled, "Good morning sleepyhead."

Smiling she rubbed her eyes, "good morning handsome."

Rubbing her back he watched as she pulled her knees up and rested her head on them with an innocent smile on her face. Sitting up he reached his head around her and placed a kiss on her nose getting a soft laugh in reply. Reluctantly getting out of bed he made his way to the master bath to get cleaned up, noticing she was left alone she looked at the clock and gasped at the time, they had really slept in. Shimmying out from under the covers she made her way over to her bag and pulled out clean clothes for the day, taking off Flippy's shirt she folded it and quickly pulled on a white tee shirt and jeans. As she buttoned up her pants Flippy came out from the bathroom, picking out a similar outfit he watched as she started brushing out her hair. "Hey sweetie, you hungry?"

"A bit why," she asked kindly.

"Well, I was thinking about taking you to this great place I know of," his grinned. Once this reached her ears she started thinking about every place in town trying to figure out what this _great_ place was. Finally getting to the end of her long red locks she pushed it back behind her shoulders and turned to Flippy and smiled, "I'm ready."

Rising from his bed he caught Flaky off guard as he scooped her up his arms and started making his way out of his house; wrapping her arms around his neck she couldn't help but giggle at the fact he was carrying her like his bride. Carefully he locked the front door behind him before turning his attention to his truck, strolling to the passenger side he carefully placed Flaky down on the seat. Jogging to the driver side door he jumped in and buckled up, "Alright off to lunch we go!"

Flaky quietly sang along with the songs on the radio as she still tried to figure out just were this great place was, or what it was for that matter. Flippy on the other hand wanted to bring back memories for them so in his mind the best place in town to do that was to go to no other place but where she worked. As he pulled into the parking lot Flaky looked at him with an expression of confusion which he ignored pulling into a parking spot. Jumping out of his car he swiftly made his way over to Flaky and picked her up as she tried to exit. This time she gave a small yelp from getting caught off guard and to reassure her Flippy placed a kiss lovingly on her cheek, "There's no way I'm letting my princess walk."

"If you say so," she blushed and wrapped her arms around his neck once again and rested her head against his as he carried her in.

He gently kicked the door open and walked in only to be greeted with angry yelling, "What the _HELL_ is wr- OH Flaky, Flippy! What are you two doing here?"

"Nice to see you too Petunia," he chuckled, setting Flaky in a chair he sat across from her and held on of her hands before actually giving an answer, "We're here for lunch, and what better place than here."

Petunia smiled and took up two menus and came over and set next to Flaky and handed each of her guest one to look through. She was ecstatic to see both of them actually smiling even during such a trying time, "So what can I get you two lovebirds?"

"I'll just have a tea and uh…. The chicken wrap sounds good," Flaky cheerfully answered her boss who swiftly jotted it down turning her focus across the table.

He hummed to himself looking over the menu until he spotted what he wanted, "This is my last day to have real food so I'll have the bacon burger and water is fine with me."

Nodding she wrote down his order, standing up she replied, "Alright I'll be right back with your drinks."

As Petunia retreated to the back to place the order Flaky gave his hand a light squeeze before asking one of the questions that were plaguing her mind, "Flippy why do you keep carrying me, I-I mean I don't mind."

Lifting her hand he bent forward and placed a sweet kiss on each of her knuckles, "Well sweetie, I don't know the next time I'll be able to hold you like that so I have to get as much in as I can."

Her face flushed at his answer, at this point she wasn't going to argue with him because he was right, neither of them were sure of the next time they'd see each other. These thoughts were enough to make her have a breakdown again, but she was following Petunia's advice and cherishing every moment she had with him. Keeping a hold of his hand she closed her eyes and her smile grew a little more; to her misfortune the moment was broken when Petunia came back and placed their drinks on the table. Once she left back for the bar Flaky decided to ask him her second question, "So what made you want to bring me here?"

Taking a sip of his water a smile crept across his face, "Well this is where I met you. It was the day after I moved here and you, Giggles, Cuddles, Toothy, Nutty, and Sniffles all came in after school to get something to eat. Mum and Pop had brought me here and were explaining the islands curse to me, and how Petunia and Handy just opened this place about a month before I moved here. Then when Aunt Mum introduced me to your group you were so nervous that you spilt you drink on yourself and I let you borrow my jacket to cover up with so you didn't have to walk home with everyone seeing your stained shirt."

"Wow! I can't believe you remember all of that," she exclaimed before continuing, "I was so embarrassed after that, and I was really surprised when you gave up your jacket to a complete stranger. You really are as sweet and kind as Mum had told us all you were."

Blushing he remembered how his aunt would always talk him up even when he thought that he was nothing more than a monster anymore. Rubbing her hand he could tell that she was just as happy as he was; Petunia once again returned to the table with their food and rejoined them at the table. The three of them took turns talking about the past few years and how much everyone's changed over the time of living on the island. By the time they had finished eating the actual lunch crowd started to take over the tables and booths; seeing this Flaky and Flippy both knew it would be the best time to leave. Laying a fifty on the table he scooped her up once more and exited the building he slipped her into his truck and joined her once more. Leaning over he placed an innocent kiss on her cheek, and backed out before heading back to his house to enjoy alone time.

Arriving in the drive way he once again opened the passenger side door and lifted her into his arms, gently closing the door he made his way back into his house. Once inside he placed her on his couch and sat beside her, lovingly he covered her lips with his own and held her body against his. Flaky gave a faint moan and wrapped her arms around his neck and rested her head on his shoulder, "Do you have to pack anything else?"

"Nothing much just a few small things and that won't take long," he ran a hand through her hair.

"Alright," she cooed rubbing his chest and let out a giggle as he ran over a portion of her back that was ticklish, as a wicked grin took over he attacked her. Bursting into a fit of laughter she began trying to get him off but couldn't over power her boyfriend. He continued on until she started gasping for air, backing off he let her catch her breath. In this moment of freedom she went in for the attack, lunging across she started ticking him in the crease of his neck. Falling back on the couch he tried his hardest not to laugh but couldn't withstand her relentless assault. Laughing he let her have this victory, pulling her hands away he carefully held both of her wrists in one of his hands. Grinning as she attempted to pull away he wrapped his free arm around her mid section and pulled her as close as possible to his body; relaxing she melted into his kiss as if were the first time she ever kissed him. Slowly she broke free and started giving his neck many feathery kisses and an unexpected groan entered her ears. Smiling she backed away and saw his eyes filled with yearning, "That's not fair."

"Not right now," she gave him a sweet kiss.

Nodding he wasn't about to go against her will, letting go of her wrists he simply held her closely knowing she was enjoying being in his arms. "Let's watch a movie together," she added hoping he would go for the idea.

Removing one arm he reached over the couch and felt around on the end table and finally found the remote. Turning on his TV he opened the movie listing and handed it over, "go ahead and pick one."

Gently taking the remote she started searching thought the large selection he had available, spotting one she liked a smile took over and pressed play, "Man in the Iron Mask, a very good choice."

"I love this movie… but when he's wearing the mask he's kind of scary looking," she said wearily, just thinking about it made her shrink back into his chest. Kissing the top of her head and wrapped his free arm back around her, "Well no need to worry sweetie I'm here to protect you."

Cuddling close to one another as the movie came to an end Flippy had covered her eyes several times so she couldn't see as the twins seemed to trade of the mask. Once the credits started rolling Flippy stretched the best he could while Flaky turned off the TV and sat up so he could move freely. Slowly standing he cracked his neck, "Well sweetie I think you should come with me."

Flaky noticed the seductive tone in his voice and blushed wildly but nonetheless followed him into the room. Motioning for her to sit on his bed she watched him go into his closet and leaned to the right trying to see if she could get a glimpse of whatever it was he was looking for. Pulling out one of his uniform jackets he smiled, turning around he walked over to Flaky and pulled it onto her shoulders. She pulled her arms through the sleeves and rolled them up so she could use her hands, looking down she read Orso on one side and FSF Army on the other. Looking up she was greeted with a kiss, "I want you to keep that one… it's from back when I was still a private. Plus this way you'll always have a part of me with you."

Smiling she snuggled into the jacket, "I promise I'll take good care of it."

Grinning he accompanied her on his bed, reaching over he pushed some hair from her face, "Good because it looks amazing on you."

She went to protest but found herself being pulled into a kiss. Feeling his tongue venture in and without a second thought she fought back with her own. Holding her close he broke away and simply looked over her, "What is it Flippy?"

He wasn't sure how to say what he wanted without sounding perverse, taking a deep breath he sincerely spoke what was on his mind, "let me have you once more before I leave."

Before getting an answer he set his head on her shoulder and held her close. Flaky blushed but ran her hand through his hair, "Of course." Softly she ran her hand down his chest and carefully curled her fingers around the bottom of his shirt, tugging it up Flippy allowed her to remove his shirt. He then returned his head to her shoulder, this time he began sensually kissing the sensitive skin on her neck and pushed his jacket off of her. She let out a whimper and traced the lines of his muscles with her nails, groaning his hand went for her pants and hastily undid the buttons. Letting him peel away her pants that were in his way she removed the top most articles of clothing. Lightly pushing him back as she stripped away her panties and crawled over him; undoing his pants she tugged them down along with the boxers he had been wearing. Watching as she threw them onto the floor, he placed his hand on her hips guiding her over his alert member. Lowering herself she felt the tip of his length penetrate her; moaning softly as he continued to lower her hips down onto him, he too began to groan as he sank deeper into her.

Once she was completely on him she followed his guiding hands and rose up a bit before being gently pushed back down. Moaning in pleasure she began repeating the cycle she found herself growing louder as his hips began to buck as if to get deeper into her. He too couldn't keep quiet and met her moans with his own; they were in perfect harmony with one another and were making sure to keep it that way. Flaky began clawing at his chest as the pressure built inside of her; Flippy threw his head back and groaned as he felt her walls starting to clench together. In reply he gripped her hips tighter and assisted her in picking up the speed. Each time she tightened up the speed would increase until she couldn't handle anymore and let out a scream of pure ecstasy. Feeling her spasms around his length he couldn't help but moan as her juices were dripping down on him. Continuing on the spasms brought him to the edge and he too came.

Panting Flaky lied on his chest and Flippy hugged her closely he met her amber eyes that showed signs of a hangover from her climax. Smiling he placed a finger under her chin and tilted it up and greeted her with a passionate kiss. Shifting them both into a sitting position he picked her up and carried her into the master bath. Once there Flaky slowly remover herself as he readied the shower for them, waiting for the water to reach the right temperature he rubbed her back and kissed her shoulder, "God I love you."

"I love you too," she said shifting to better hug him. Carefully they stepped into the shower and smiled as the water run over them. Suddenly she felt Flippy rubbing her head and let out a laugh as he fought with getting the shampoo through her hair, but eventually finished with cleaning her hair and grabbed the detachable shower head. Turning back to rinse her hair out he was met with a bar of soap being dragged along his chest. Continuing to clean his body she blushed as she ran over the contours of each strong muscle, she was going to miss being able to trace his strong frame. Once the water cleared the soap away she leaned in and hugged him closely trying to prolong having to go to sleep.

When Flippy awoke he sat up with a yawn, looking back over at the mess of red curled up in his sheets a sad smile took over. Leaning over he kissed her forehead; standing up he staggered his way over to his duffle bags and started throwing in the miscellaneous things he wanted to bring along. Pulling off his pajama pants off he reached into his closet and with a sigh stepped into his uniform pants, zipping them up and buttoning them close he grabbed his belt and started looping it though. Tightening it he pulled on a plain back shirt and slid on the rest of his uniform.

The noise that had been created woke Flaky up, she stretched out a bit and rubbed her eyes tiredly. Looking up she found Flippy in uniform, frowning she remember what this morning meant. Sadness swelled in her and sniffling tears started to take over her vision. Hearing the noise behind him Flippy turned and saw her wiping her eyes; rushing back to the bed he pulled her into a hug and tried to quell her tears. Pulling herself up she wiped her eyes again, "I'm sorry, I j-just…"

"I know sweetheart I know," he kissed her several times then let her curl up next to him as he laced up his boots. She sadly watched him finish getting ready, but gave him a questionable look as he held his hand out for her. "Here, they're the keys to my house so if you ever feel like using my place your more than welcome to."

Reaching over once more he handed her yet another set of keys, "And I know you've been having a lot of issues with your car so please take my truck."

"A-are you sure," she held the keys closely unsure if she should decline.

"I'm positive, I wouldn't trust anyone else," he said holding her hands together. Just as she nodded and went to lean her head on him a loud horn caused them both to jump. Running his hand through his hair he put his beret on, "Well sweetheart… that's… my ride."

Standing up he grabbed his bags and Flaky followed him; opening the door she saw the taxi that was waiting for him. Launching herself at him she pulled him into a tight hug, Flippy replied by wrapping his arms around her. Tugging him into a loving kiss they stayed there for several long seconds, kissing her several more times he finally spoke, "I love you with all my heart, I'll be back as soon as I can, and I promise you I will come back."

"I love you too, and I'll be waiting for you so please be safe," her voice cracked as she fought back tears. Giving her one more quick kiss he crawled into the taxi, he reached out the window and waved to her one more time as he drove off. Flaky stood in the doorway and waved back until he was out of sight and reluctantly closed the door. Locking it she leaned back on the door she slid down and pulled her knees up to her chest. With shaky hands her hugged her knees closely and began to bawl her eyes out.

He was gone.

A/N: Fun fact: I actually became very sad as I wrote this chapter. Poor Flippy's gone back to war and left poor Flaky all alone. I'll try getting the next chapter up tomorrow night, if not expect it early Sunday morning. As always I send my love to ANGELFIRE77 for the fav and comment, and much love to DotDotDot and Mitchi-chan for their comments.


	9. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of the HTF characters,**

**Only the story that I have thrown them in.**

Chapter IX

Two weeks had slowly passed since Flippy was forced to leave everything behind to defend his country overseas, and in those two weeks Flaky had only heard from him twice. Once the same day he left to let her know that he had made it safely to base, and a very short call to give her the bad news about being deployed. This news had sent Flaky into an almost constant state of depression, to the point that Petunia had her working mostly behind the scenes because when the news would start discussing the war she would break down and cry. Today, however, she wasn't heading to the bar and grille to work but to meet up with Giggles and start their homework for Chemistry 101. They had only had class twice since the semester had started, and already there was a packet of homework to be done. Sitting at one of the open tables she started to flip through the many pages of work and sighed; they should have asked Sniffles to help since he was the science major. Groaning to herself she looked out the window and spotted Giggles walking in accompanied by a man she'd never seen before. He had bright blue hair with sapphire eyes, he wore a blue and white track suit and perched on his nose was a pair of red rimmed glasses. He seemed to be bringing a sense of safety with him, the one things Flaky had been missing dearly since Flippy left. Giggles broke her train of thought as she happily joined her friend at the table, "Hey! Sorry to keep you waiting but I had to talk to the professor."

"It's okay," she said nervously glancing over to the stranger that she brought with her.

"Oh, sorry this is one of my classmates, Splendid. Splendid, this is my friend that I was telling you about, Flaky," she said with a smile and tugged on Splendid's sleeve to get him to join them.

"It's a pleasure to meet you," he said gently taking her hand and placed a kiss on it. Once able to she pulled her hand back and gave an uneasy laugh at his gesture, "N-n-nice to m-meet y-you t-too."

A moment of awkward silence fell between them, but Giggles had quickly broke it, "Well let's get to work."

Starting to work Cuddles and Nutty had came in and joined them as they too had work to do, but it had taken a while since Nutty had trouble trying to find his books through the mess of candy. As they worked they held small conversations of what happened through everyone's day and couldn't help but laugh as some of the stories, Flaky included who hadn't been this happy since spending time with Flippy. That was until Lumpy came in, leaning over the bar he grabbed the remote and turned on the news; after giving the weather forecast they began talking about the current situation overseas. Flaky quickly turned her attention to what the reporter was talking about and turned around to see exactly what was going on. The reported began with announcing that the Army had just took back one of the major cities and that there were no casualties. Smiling sadly she started to cry quietly, she knew that he was there, but knowing that he was still alive filled her with bittersweet joy. Running out from the back Petunia grabbed the remote from the man's hands and quickly turned the TV off before loudly scolding him for his actions. Letting out a soft sob their group fell silent not knowing how to react, Splendid didn't know what was going on so reached across the table placing a hand on her shoulder, "Are you okay?"

Wiping away her tears she lowered her head and turned back to the group. Slowly nodding she spoke in a shaky voice, "Yeah I'm fine… I-I think I should get going though…"

"Would you like me to accompany you," Splendid asked starting to gather up his things.

Giggles stopped him and shook her head as Flaky pushed all her papers into her tote. Standing up she picked up her keys and wiped her eyes once more, "No I'm fine, I just want to be alone right now.

As she left everyone remained quiet as they looked back and forth between one another, with the exception of Splendid who sat there in confusion. No one knew exactly how to answer him because in all honestly they were all affected by the news and no one really wanted to talk about what their close friend might be going through. This left everyone in a quiet state again, but unlike the others who knew to let Flaky be Splendid was going to see how she was.

Flaky though had made her way over to Flippy's house, letting herself in she turned on the main overhead light so she could see where everything was. Looking around everything was the same as before, frozen in time. Sadly sighing she placed her bag on the neglected couch and took of her tennis shoes, walking back to the door she locked it and dropped her shoes down by the door. Opening the back of his built in mailbox she grabbed the papers out and walked into the kitchen setting the handful of envelops on the island; returning to the mailbox she retrieved a small package and looked it over oddly, it was address to her. Strolling over to the couch she lowered herself onto the cushion and carefully examined the package once more before using one of her nails to cut through the tape. After lifting the flaps on the box she peered in and pulled out a small envelope. Slipping a slim finger in the small unglued portion of the flap and tore it open, removing the letter from its enclosing she carefully unfolded the letter and began to read:

Flaky sweetie,

I've been missing you insanely, and I hope everything is going well for you. I know by the time you get this your classes should have started up again for the year and I wish I could be there to help you, but you're smarter than you think you are and will do your best. Also by the time you get this I will hopeful have a webcam slot so I'll be able to see your beautiful face once again. As for me no worries, there's nothing major going on, it actually been pretty boring over here just a lot of moving from place to place and keeping surveillance. Anyways, when I had some free time I went out and found this and thought of you and I hope you like it as much as I thought you would.

Love you with all my heart,

Flippy.

A wide smile took over as she held the letter closely, setting the letter down she turned her attention to the box. Looking back in she pulled out another smaller box and carefully opened it, gasping she stared in shock at the heart shaped diamond necklace. Pushing everything else to the side she placed the velvet lined box in her lap she carefully removed the white gold chain and pendent. With her mouth slightly hanging open she continued to stare in awe before carefully latching it around her neck. Gleefully standing she ran over to the closest mirror, standing in front of her reflections she couldn't take her eyes off of her new necklace. Tears started slowly trailing their way down her face, it was beautiful, and she couldn't believe that he kept her in his thoughts every single day.

Rubbing her eyes she calmly made her way into his room, looking around it too was still the same as how she had left it. Falling back into his bed she curled up in the comforter and with one hand held her necklace close. With the other the pulled a pillow close to her still teary face and took a deep breath taking in the lingering scent of her boyfriend. Nuzzling her head deeper into the pillow she managed to slip under the comforter to warm herself up before letting his scent lull her to sleep.

A half a hour later she was woken up by a ringing noise growing louder, groaning she blinked several times and felt around for her phone. Without looking to see who it was she pressed talk and groggily placed the phone up to her ear," H-hello?"

"Flaky, are you okay," a very worried Giggles asked, without letting her tired friend answer she added on, "Splendid stopped by your place to see if you were okay and said when he got there that you weren't home."

Pulling her phone away she looked at it oddly as if Giggles to see her expression, placing the phone back to her ear she wondered how Splendid knew where she lived, "I'm fine Giggles, I just went over to Flippy's place to bring it the mail for him so Lifty and Shifty wouldn't start stealing it, and I kind of fell asleep."

"Thank God your okay, I thought maybe you died or something and I wanted to make sure first before running to the hospital," Giggles said with an audible sigh of relief. Flaky laughed lightly before she continued on, "well that's all I wanted to know, I'll let you get back to what you were doing. I'll see you tomorrow, okay?"

"Alright, I'll see you tomorrow at work," Flaky said pressing the end button and set her phone next to her and closed her eyes again. Though this was short lived as her phone started ringing again, picking it up once more she looked at the screen displaying an unknown number. Unsure of his mysterious number she let it ring a few more times before reluctantly answering it, "Hello?"

"Hi sweetheart," the one voice she way dying to hear said from the other end.

"FLIPPY," she happily exclaimed jumping into a sitting position on his bed. There was a happy chuckle from him before you spoke again, "How are you sweetie?"

"I'm as good as I can be without you here with me," she replied with a sad yet honest tone.

"I know sweetie, I miss you so much and it's not easy not being about to pick up the phone and call whenever to hear your voice… but I do have some good news. It looks like my regiment is going to get a week off around Christmas so I should be able to spend the holiday with you," he said cheerfully.

This wasn't good news, this was phenomenal news. Yelping with joy she wished she could show him the huge smile that had overtaken her face. "I thought that would help cheer you up," he said with a laugh.

"Yes! Oh my God! That's amazing that you'll be able to come home for Christmas, that's so much sooner than I was expecting you to be home," she replied still celebrating the news the he shared with her.

"Neither was I, I thought I might get a weekend at most and that wouldn't give me enough time to come home," he said in a happy tone. "Well what's been going on back home?"

"Normal, Lifty and Shifty are still up to no good, The Mole got behind the wheel again, and that never ends well. I did die a few days ago," she said with an uneasy giggle.

"Oh no! What happened sweetie," he said in a very concerned voice.

"It wasn't anything serious, really. I uh… just choked on a donut," she reluctantly admitted feeling very embarrassed by the entire situation. Hearing a bit of laughter she barked back in embarrassment, "It's not funny!"

"I know, that just sounds like something that would happen to Lumpy," he said trying to control his laughter the best he could. As she thought about it she couldn't help but laugh at it a bit now herself, it really did sound more like something that would happen to Lumpy rather than to herself. After a moment of shared laughter she told him the only other thing that was on her mind, "Oh, there is a new guy in town, his name is Splendid, he has some of the same classes as Giggles and me."

"Splendid huh," he paused, "I've heard some other the privates mention that name, apparently he's like a local hero that goes from town to town trying to protect citizens. I guess it was only a matter of time before someone like that found their way to Happy Tree Town."

"Oh, well I guess you're right if you put it that way… but he still kind of scares me," she said playing with her new necklace.

"If that's the case then I need to make sure I get home soon so I can protect you from him," he said with a laugh, "oh by the way, I sent a package out last week, did you get it yet?

"Yes, it's beautiful Flippy," she smiled looking down to the necklace she was already wearing, "I love it, but really it's too much."

"It's not too much, for you there is never a thing like too much," he said coolly glad that she enjoyed her gift.

She was left speechless at his remark; no one had ever said anything like that to her, love for her soldier swelled up inside of her as she just stayed quiet for a moment. Once she regained her mind she proceeded to ask the first thing that came to her mind, "H-how are things over there."

There was a pause, she knew he said that things were boring, but she couldn't completely believe that. "It's been war, so the work had been tiring, long hours and little sleep, and the work is boring which makes it even harder to stay awake. Though the thought of coming home and seeing your beautiful smiling face makes everything a lot easier."

"Ha-have you f-flipped out," she asked curiously yet petrified of the answer she may get.

"No, no, no, I'm actually able to say that I haven't flipped out since being deployed," he announced in a proud tone.

Relief swept over her; she had feared that being back overseas would, without a doubt, triggered him to relapse and flip out. She went to say something but was cut off by his announcement, "Oh crap. Sorry love but I have to go, my commander just got here. Oh I have web time tomorrow night at about eight p.m. your time. Hope to see you on, I miss you and love you so damn much Flaky."

"I love you and miss you more," she said with a giggle. Once the phone call ended she laid back in his bed happily, everything was better than she had expected it to be, and even though it seemed like forever Christmas really wasn't that far away. Smiling she covered the diamond pendent with both hands and happily closed her eyes. Soon he'd be lying in this bed with her once more; soon she'd be in his warm embrace. Soon, but not soon enough to her; curling back up in the covers and closed her eyes again, letting the lingering scent lull her back into a nap.

A/N: Okay so life got in the way and I couldn't post when I wanted to, and I do apologize for that. Also DotDotDot there was not condom used in the last chapter, and you guys are killing me asking about Fliqpy, I can't tell you if he does or doesn't come back, all I can say is you're going to have to keep reading to find out. Anyways much love to ShelovesBBLFlippy for the comment fav and alert, and Pedro-IS-Madi12 for the fav. And so much love to Kohaku-Koneko, Mitchi-Chan, and DotDotDot for the comments! I'll see you all next chapter!


	10. Chapter 10

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of the HTF characters,**

**only the story I have thrown them in.**

Chapter X

Slowly lighting up a cigarette Flippy took a few puffs to assure that the tobacco was indeed lit; smiling he had just gotten off his third weekly video chat with Flaky. It bummed him out that he only got to see her face once a week, but being the general's son meant he got the perk of using the phone a bit more frequently than others. Leaning back in the chair he took another puff as he took out the picture of her that he brought along and a smile took over his face, he couldn't wait to see her. At this rate he might get a chance to see her before Christmas, it was only the first week in October and all their plans were ahead of schedule. After returning her picture back into his pocket he closed his eyes and let his mind wander since there was nothing to do as of yet. This however was interrupted by being lightly hit with a rolled up newspaper. His eyes popped opened and he was greeted by a woman with dark green hair that was pulled up into a tight bun and slate gray eyes. Smirking he stood up and chuckled to himself before asking, "Now what would your brother say if he knew you were treating your C.O. like that?"

Smiling she sat in the chair that Flippy had just vacated and logged onto the computer before turning and smirked, "He'd laugh and tell me to hit you once more for good measures."

Chuckling he knew that it was true; Sly Camaleonte was the younger sister to his old partner Sneaky, and whether it was work or downtime she acted just like him. Letting her have her time on the computer he began to walk around and watched as the young group he was in control of were playing cards, and overall were simply carefree. Part of him was envious, they were lucky that they didn't have to go though the hell he had encountered during the Tiger Wars; that and the fact that they didn't fully understand how quickly everything could turn to hell if they weren't careful. Everything up until now had been pretty basic, but he had a strong feeling things wouldn't stay this way for much longer. Walking outside he looked up t the bright sunny sky, it was a beautiful sight, but there was something very eerie about this serene setting. Taking another long drag he heard a deep rough voice calling for him; putting out the lit tobacco he walked back into the small building and was greeted by his superior. He stood at attention before the stocky older man with gray hair and honey brown eyes; saluting the man he returned to standing straight with his hands flat at his side, "Major Rhino sir?"

"Sergeant, I just got off the phone with General Orso, he is urging us to get to the capital city as soon as possible. I'll be taking my men and part of the equipment with us; we'll clear out a path to city for you and your men. Once we get into the capital I will call for you and your men to come join us with the rest of the equipment, understood?"

"Affirmative," he said saluting his superior once more, he then watched as Major Rhino called for his men out of the group. Seeing the number of men wither to about a handful he knew he should inform his men about what was about to take place. Turning to his regiment he loudly cleared his throat trying to get their attention, when this failed he took a deep breath and barked out, "Attention!"

Looking over to see Flippy standing there with a very serious look on his face they dropped what they were doing and quickly stood at attention. Standing tall with his hands behind his back he looked over his men before calmly speaking, "Listen up because I don't want to repeat myself. The two hundred and tenth regiments are packing up as we speak, they will be taking only some of the supplies and will be cutting a path to the capital city for us. We will be in charge of bringing the rest of the technical supplies along with us. This will be a quick and easy mission unless we make it otherwise; right now I want you to start gathering all the equipment, load the jeep up and get it ready for transportation, understood?"

"Sir, yes, sir," his regiment answered him before heading off in multiple directions doing as they were told and rounding up everything that was going to be taken along. Sly moved her way over to Flippy and continued to stand straight until she was given the motion to relax. Looking over her C.O.'s expression carefully she had to know what was eating at him, "Flippy is there something bothering you?"

Frowning he sighed and rubbed the back of his head, "I have a bad feeling about this mission. I don't know why but something about it just isn't sitting right with me, and there was something really off with how Major Rhino was acting."

Patting his shoulder she tried to reassure him about the situation, "You're over thinking it, I mean with you in charge we'll be able to handle anything that comes our way."

"I hope your right," he said in a sadder tone, with that they went off in different directions. Flippy had made his way over and got to work helping load the jeep up with supplies. Most of which were computer and communications devices, but nonetheless it was expensive and highly needed and to get that through to his men he was forced to yell several times to be careful. Frazzled he walked away and began massaging his temples, groaning he made his way outside and leaned up against the building wall and relit his cigarette from earlier. It had been fifteen minutes since he first talked to his men and Major Rhino was just now leaving with his regiment. It would take about an hour to get to the capital city, and that was with no interference, but this was war so that meant that there would be interference. So by his calculations that would hold them up for about another hour to hour and a half at most, so it would be around two and a half hours before he and his men would even begin to head out.

Taking a drag this sinking feeling returned and was more powerful than it had been earlier. Breathing out he tried to shake this feeling once again, but his thoughts always seemed to go back to one thing. Flaky, and how she would be crying her eyes out over the news of him being injured or worse, dead. Sliding down he sat on his heels, he had to stop thinking like that, he was going to get home to her and never let her out of his sight again. He had never missed someone this much before, and his yearning to see Flaky again was what was driving to do whatever it took to get back home. Pinching the bridge of his nose he knew that he had already talked to her this morning on video chat but suddenly he wanted to talk to her once more. He just wanted to tell her that he loved her with all his heart no matter what happened to either of them because as it stood right now he wasn't sure of the next time he'd be able to talk to her.

Staring down at the sandy ground beneath his feet he noticed some small wet drops started appearing, rubbing his cheek he came to the realization that he was crying. Closing his eyes tightly he let the tears fall freely and couldn't help but sadly laugh; the big bad war hero Sergeant First Class Flippy Orso was crying at the thought of not being able to talk to his girlfriend. It wouldn't be so bad if he was just a regular soldier crying about his girl back home, but he was considered a hero for his adventures during the Tiger Wars, and to top it off he was the general's son. Snuffing out the cigarette once again he sniffled and wiped his eyes several more times and tried to quell his tears, he couldn't let himself have a breakdown at such an important time like this. Taking several more deep breaths he tried to regain himself, once feeling confident he stood back up and nodded to himself, no matter what he was going home to Flaky.

Tossing the cigarette to the ground he stepped on it to make sure that it was actually put out before walking back into the building with a new found confidence. Walking over to the jeep he looked it over to make sure that everything was in place and tightly strapped down; making a few altercations to the straps he was actually very pleased with how his men handled loading the truck with little help from him. Now he just needed to wait for their call to come through, walking back into the room he took a seat in one of the open chairs. Looking around he took noticed at how the mood had changed so quickly; every single person in the room was nearly silent. Two of his men were praying to the god that they believed in, with the other four were readying their weapons. Sighing he too needed to find something that would keep him busy while they waited.

Pulling out another picture and a sad smile took over, it was him and his old regiment, they were all so young. It was just a shame that none of them were alive to see how the nation that they died for had changed over the past five years. He couldn't help but laugh remembering how he, Sneaky Camaleonte, and Mouse Ka-Boom were know as the three musketeers. Smiling he muttered to himself, "This victory is in memory of you guys."

After the long grueling two hours and twenty-five minutes the phone finally began to ring, picking it up and pressing talk Flippy pressed it up against his ear and spoke firmly, "Sergeant First Class Orso speaking."

"Sergeant, things did not go as smoothly as planned. As soon as we started to pass through we were swarmed by Scorpion Army troops, be ready to put up a fight because by now they're had a chance to regroup and they're probably expecting another group to pass by."

"Alright I'll make sure that all my men are well prepared," Flippy said, this was only gave him another reason to believe that he may not be able to make it through the mission.

"Good luck Sergeant," with that the call ended and he stood there frozen for a moment, in the back he heard his men start to panic. Setting the phone down he took a deep breath and slowly turned to see that all eyes were on him. Breathing out he tried to keep his composure, "Men, prepare your weapons, we'll be greeted on our way there."

Ordering his men into their positions on the truck he made sure everyone had their vests and helmets on before slipping on his own combat vest and strapped his helmet on his chin. Double checking everything and everyone he knew they might be going through hell, but he refused to be ill prepared. Picking up his M249 he slowly climbed into the driver seat and started up the engine. Making sure that he could clearly see all around him he called out to his men, "Are we ready to take these bastards head on?"

"Hooah," his group answered him in unison, a smile crept across his face feeling a bit more confident that he has his men there to support him.

Stepping lightly on the gas he made his way out of the base they had been occupying. Driving down the road everything was going well, but this was only the beginning and the base was still in sight from the rearview mirror. Once the base was out of sight he knew that they'd be coming up on the first checkpoint soon, and once that was reached he had the Private First Class that was in the passenger seat give base the notification of where they were. After he got off the call Flippy focused on the road ahead once more. Up ahead he noticed debris and then an eerie chill fell over him and his stomach stank, and once more the bad feelings flooded back into his mind. Closing his eyes for a moment he calmed his on edge nerves as he pressed on.

Looking around he spotted what looked like makeshift graves, but what really got him was that they looked fresh; along with that there was broken weapons scattered all along the road, and to top it off it looked like there was bits of convoy that left before them mixed with the debris. Pushing any worry he had out of his mind he couldn't let that get in the way, continuing on maneuvering the jeep down the road the sound of gunshots echoed. Stopping the truck some of his men jumped out and started making their way up the hillside, moving to join him Flippy found himself caught on something. Struggling to get free he looked up and what he way made his heart stop, and before he had a chance to react the front end of the jeep had been sent airborne. Trying to hold himself down as the jeep rolled several times before coming to a stop on its left side, two more men had been thrown out by the launch. Flippy slowly opened his eyes he groaned and looked and found himself still hooked on something and the private next to him had been knocked out. Turning his attention straight forward through the window he found himself looking straight at a rocket that was heading straight for them. Gasping he tried to scream but couldn't find his voice as the rocket nicked the front of the jeep just enough to send it airborne once again

A/N: Sorry for the cliffhanger, but in all honesty I feel like it was about time for one. Just a forewarning, the story is going to be coming to an end soon, when I originally wrote it I only intended it to be about a five chapter story and it really came a long way. I do however have a surprise for you guys, but I'm going to keep that under wraps for now. Also lots of love and a special shout out to DotDotDot for getting a FF account and adding this story to her fav and alert, and the comment. Lots of love to Mitchi-chan and ShelovesBBLFlippy for the comments!

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	11. Chapter 11

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of the HTF characters,**

**only the story I have thrown them into.**

**Warning: This chapter contains strong language and violence.**

Chapter XI

"Will you get up already you dumb son of a bitch," a deep dark voice snarled, "You keep saying you need to get home to see_ her_ again so quit fucking around and get your motherfucking ass up."

There was nothing in response, no sounds, no movement, absolutely no will to do anything but give up and die. "Fine then, have it your way, but I'm not going down like a fucking pussy bitch," the menacing voice growled once again, with a evil chuckle the darkness slowly started making its way through every fiber of their joined being.

Opening his yellow eyes he sneered at the bright light he was greeted with, lifting a hand he blocked some of the sun's rays until they adjusted. Once they did so he realized that he was currently upside down, reaching to his waist he gripped one of the loops on his vest and ripped it apart to finally free himself; moving his body into a position that was more comfortable, lying on the roof and was pleasantly surprised at the view right outside the jeep. Two enemies stood with their back to the wrecked vehicle shooting over a small mound; the best part of the entire situation was that neither of them were well armored. A devilish grin took over his face as he reached behind him and took a hold of his M249 and took aim at one of the unsuspecting men. Unloading a handful of bullets into one of the men's leg it was clear he hit the femoral artery as blood started pouring out at a high rate, with a loud scream the man fell to the ground. To him this was an invitation as the already dying man looked over to his yellow eyes; laughing cruelly he began shooting and loved watching the bullets tear away the flesh from the enemies skull. Continuing his smile grew wider as another bullet tore though the joint of his jaw and the mouth began to hang open, as another burrowed its way through the left eye and into the soft wrinkled tissue that was the human brain. Finally ceasing his rapid shooting he took a moment to admire his bleeding piece of art, but it was quickly broken as the second man started shrieking at what happened to his partner. His smile quickly turned to a sneer as he took aim once more to take out the second man, not taking as much interest in him he just made sure that he wouldn't get back up.

Using the back of his gloved hand he wiped away the blood from his face, looking to his right at the Private First Class that had been stuck in the jeep with him and was met with the private's lifeless eyes. Giving his dead soldier a disapproving tsk he reached across his vest and pulled out a bowie knife, turning to his side he placed it with his own. Again reaching over he started taking ammo from the vest pockets added to his own supply. Once that was done he crawled out from the wreckage pulling his gun along with him, slowly standing he stretched out his legs and turned his full attention to where gunshot where reigning from. Quickly walking back to the road he spotted the four surviving members from his regiment hiding behind anything they could and were shooting back at the ragtag group of enemies. Snickering he threw his gun to the ground, with what he was about to do it would be of no use to him. Pulling out the two Bowie knifes he firmly held one in each hand; licking the blood from his lips he spoke to himself in a dark wicked tone, "Show time motherfuckers."

Bolting down to his men he found himself covering a lot of ground fast, stepping up on a box he launched himself into the air. Yelling out happily he came down on one of the enemies, swinging his arms downward he stabbed the knives into the eyes of the unsuspecting enemy. Laughing heinously as the man screamed out in pain he tightened his grip on the handles and began pulling in opposite directions severing the man's skull in half. Letting him fall to the ground he turned his bloodlust to another who was fumbling with his gun; taking advantage of this situation he sprinted to the man and kicked the weapon from his hands. Grabbing the man's arms he was slammed to the ground and pinned; taking one of his knives he carved the enemies back open. The painful screams only excited him more as he then broke the ribs away from the spine exposing the vital organs of pinned man. His laughing grew louder as it seemed everyone stopped and stared at the brutality that was taking place right between the two armies. Reaching his hands in he took a solid grip on the rising and falling balloons on either side of the spine and with one swift movement tore them from their designated place to lying on the man's back. Stand up he let the blood drip from his gloves as he watched the man lungs slowly shrivel up as he suffocated.

Seeing what had happened to their comrades the other four ran back to the tuck they had came in screaming as loud as possible. However they weren't going to get away that easily, taking a grenade out of a pocket and brought it to his face and pulled the pin out with his teeth. Throwing it with great accuracy it landed in the bed of the truck and caused a fatal explosion; the two who were in the bed were killed instantly while the broken glass and grenade shrapnel entered at the base of the two men's head severing the spinal cord. Laughing wildly at his accomplishment his regiment all stared in horror of what their Sergeant had just done, frozen their eyes shifted to one another trying to figure out what to do or say to this sudden slaughter. Sly finally crept over to her C.O., stopping a few yards away from him she didn't want to end up like the other two men he got his hands on, "Flippy?"

Turning to his men they were all met with gleaming yellow eyes and a blood covered face, grinning widely he corrected her, "No, Fliqpy."

The three others stood in a terrified confusion at the new variations of their Sergeants first name; Sly on the other hand simply stood stiff and swallowed hard. Narrowing his eyes he spoke in a dark vicious tone, "well maggots, if you want to live follow me."

Without giving anyone a chance to respond Fliqpy turned his heels and started to walk in the direction of the capital city. The four looked to one another once more; none of them were ready to die but they feared following him would yield the same outcome, reluctantly they ran over to catch up with him. Sly however walked right up next to him and nervously looked him over, he wasn't the same Sergeant they knew and loved; this was a wild untamable animal high on its lust for blood, and to her this meant the worst. Slowing her pace she joined the other three and followed a few steps behind, staying silent they continued their way down the road.

It wasn't long before they came across what looked like several abandoned buildings, Fliqpy held up his hand signaling them to stop. With large stride he walked over to the smallest building and without taking precautionary steps to see if it was truly vacant he kicked in the wooden door. Walking in he took a quick look around, not seeing or hearing anyone he made his way back out and waved his regiment in. The four slowly joined him in the building and they all had their weapons ready; fearing that since their Sergeant didn't do a thorough examination that they may be greeted with a surprise. Inching their way into the building, a chill ran down everyone's spine as Fliqpy's heinous laugh came booming from the backmost room. As the laughter died down they stayed put until being greeted by a sharp command, "Get your asses in here, we hit the fucking jackpot!"

Taking several uncertain steps the four of them peeked into the room he had summoned them to and what they were welcomed with made their jaws nearly hit the floor. On the farthest wall hung the Scorpion Army's flag, scattered on the floor was weaponry, communication devices, and other miscellaneous equipment. The table that Fliqpy was leaning his bloodied hands was covered with layouts for several of their bases and bomb schematics. The four wandered in and took a closer look at everything in the room and were completely in awe. The private with a medium tan was the one who decided to speak, "This… This is incredible, with all this we've got them by their balls! Come on Sergeant we need to report this to the Major!"

Glaring at the private he growled, "No," picking up a pistol from the edge of the table he examined it before continuing, "It takes far to fucking long for them to take action, we'll take them down ourselves, do I make myself clear?"

"That's ludicrous, we'll be ki-" the private was cut off by Fliqpy quickly making his way around and pistol whipping him, dropping to the floor Fliqpy placed a foot on his chest to keep him down. The other three watched in terror as their deranged Sergeant glared down to the private he had just attacked; suddenly a wicked smile came across his face, pressing his foot down on the soldier's chest, "This is a fucking dog eat dog war kid. You're either going to follow everything I say or I will kill your sorry ass for getting in my way, understand?"

"I...U-under…stand," the man below him coughed out his words. Fliqpy removed his foot from the man's chest and walked away to a corner of the room looking at the papers on the wall. The private took a moment to catch his breath and slowly stood back up and retreated to the others completely terrified of his C.O.

"Where's the language specialist," he asked in his dark gravelly voice.

"Private Lyre was thrown from the Jeep and died…sir," a tall dark tanned private answered leery of what his response may invoke upon them all.

Nodding to himself he was a little disappointed that even though they had all this information in front of them they wouldn't be able to use it due to language barriers. A moment later voices that were not their own entered the house, turning quickly he motioned his men into going and finding a place to hide. Without missing a beat they did as he instructed fearing that he would hold true to his promise if they didn't, once hidden away they watched for his next signal. Leaning flat against the wall he listened as the voiced grew neared, signaling once again they readied their weapons. Watching the group of enemies enter Fliqpy slipped behind the last man and quickly snapped his neck. Signaling once more Sly was the first to open fire, the other three nervously started shooting at their enemies. Once they firing stopped he pulled out his knife and knelt down and grabbed one of the downed men. Grinning he pulled the man close to his face, "So how should I kill you? Asphyxiation by your own intestines, or would you like to see just how weak your heart really is?"

The man glared and proceeded to spit at his face which was the biggest mistake he could have made; snarling Fliqpy wiped the saliva from his face. Covering the man's mouth he brought the knife up to the corner and started carving upwards towards his ear. Muffled screams could barely be heard as Fliqpy switched sides and did the same. Standing up slowly he glowered at the man on the ground and growled, "Smile."

Kicking the man hard in his side he began to cry out in pain causing his wounded face to tear open even more; laughing wildly he lost himself and continued to kick the downed man. It wasn't until the man stopped moving and making sounds that he ceased attacking the man, grunting with displeasure he snarled, "Fucking piece of shit."

Turning around stepped over the dead bodies and began searching for anything that could be of use. His regiment slowly came out from where they were and joined him in gathering up the ammo and other supplies that they would need before moving into another room. Once situated in the new room Fliqpy returned to the room where the slaughter took place and examined each of the bodies closely. A smile secured its place his face and he began to laugh hysterically at his discovery. Making his way back to his men he found them staring at him like a deer in headlights, dismissing their looks he couldn't wait to share his findings.

"Well I have some fan-fucking-tastic news," the group continued to stare at their blood covered Sergeant waiting to see what he had to tell them. "Not only did we kill the General's right hand man, but his only son."

Everyone's eyes lit up, in the heat of the moment they hadn't even took notice to who exactly their enemies were; happily they rejoiced for they had been trying to take out some of the top ranks for a while now, and now it had finally been done. Fliqpy then made his way back out of the room leaving his regiment to relax for the first time since they started preparing for this mission.

"Is it just me or has Sergeant Orso gone completely mad," Private Moqueur asked quietly.

"No, he's lost his fucking mind," Private Adler answered still rubbing his chest where Fliqpy's foot had been earlier.

Private Ligar looked up from his picture and just stared for a moment; Sly, however, gave a heavy sigh and shook her head. She dealt with intelligence, just like her older brother, so knowing everything about everything and everyone was part her job. Taking off her helmet she began, "he hasn't lost his mind, per say, it's a self defense mechanism. You know, like fight or flight instincts, just to an extreme. "

"What the hell are you talking about Sly," Adler exclaimed as he was cleaning the muzzle of his gun.

"What I mean is that this has happened once before when he was serving back in the Tiger wars, why do you think he was the only one out of his entire regiment to survived, this is obviously what the report meant."

"Wait what," Moqueur said with surprise, "This is why he survived the Tiger wars? I've always heard he was basically a super soldier not a complete lunatic."

"Does it really matter what we've heard about him," Sly started, "he's always successful when he's in this state of mind."

"No shit, he threatened to kill us if we got in his way, and what are you hinting at? Toughing it out and follow him right to deaths door," Moqueur questioned is female co-worker.

"That's all we can really do for now," she said firmly trying to convince everyone that it wasn't as bad as it seemed.

Shaking their heads everyone went back to what they were doing prior to their small conversation, but was soon interrupted by Adler, "Wait, we have the Scorpion Army's radios, can't we get in contact Major Rhino, he'd know what to do right?"

"You really do want to get killed don't you," Private Ligar spoke in a deep voice looking up to Adler with an almost daring stare.

"What," Adler was taken aback, Ligar almost never spoke, and now that he was Adler had a feeling he didn't want to hear it.

"What I mean is Sergeant Orso made himself clear about what was going to happen if we crossed him, and I don't know about you, but I have a wife and a beautiful newborn baby girl to get home to," he said coolly sitting straight up looking Adler dead in the eye.

"I have a goddamn family to get home to too, but he's gone fucking insane, we'll probably get killed before we get a chance to go home," Adler defended his position narrowing his eyes at Ligar.

"Well taking a chance is better than sitting tight and waiting, and if we follow him we'll have a better chance of taking them down and getting home sooner," Ligar barked back at his partner, "and remember he's your superior, you are to follow him or face treason."

"Fuck facing treason, I'm not sticking around to let this lunatic get us killed," Adler replied and stood up to go get the communication equipment from the other room.

Ligar quickly rose up, once Adler drew closer he grabbed a hold of his uniform collar and pulled him to the ground, Sly and Moqueur watched not knowing if they should stop this or not. Positioning himself over him he was met by a surprise expression from the man who was on the floor once again. Keeping eye contact Ligar spoke in a firm voice, "You are not going to jeopardize this chance we have, and if you try turning against Sergeant Orso again I will personally take you out myself."

Staring in shock Adler didn't know how to react to being threatened by one of his own partner, nodding slowly he backed away and pushed himself into a sitting position but remained on the floor. Ligar stood there for a moment keeping his eyes on Adler, sitting back down he looked over his gun once again. After a few short moments of silence Sly moved over to Ligar and spoke softly, "Thanks."

Ligar looked over to her oddly before she continued on, "I thought I was the only one that trusted Flippy without having any doubts."

"Well you'd be insane not to trust someone who killed the Tiger General single handedly, it doesn't matter what state of mind he was in, he still did it," he said with a small grin, "I hope you don't mind me asking, but do you know what happened to him that made him this way in the first place?"

Going to respond she looked over at the other two, motioning him to follow her as she stood up and walked out from the room, standing up he followed her out and across the hall into a smaller room. Sitting down he watched Sly pace back and forth several times before sitting across from Ligar. Taking a deep breath started, "No one really knows all the details, simply because Flippy was the only one to make it out alive and is too mentally scarred to want to think, let alone talk about it. What I've read is that when he, my brother Sneaky, and Mouse Ka-Boom were getting ready to take on the General and his regiment something happened and everything went to hell. He never went into the details but to hide from the soldier he hid under my brother's dead body. He said that he felt something start to take over, after that he wouldn't go into detail, but I think it's safe to assume that that is when he became mentally unstable."

"The next thing that was reported is that General Orso found him in one of the Tiger Army's sub-bases with no hands covered in blood with dead bodies all around him, and in a box next to him was the Tiger General's head," she finished the shortened version of the report.

"Damn. I've always thought the hand thing was a rumor," Ligar admitted, he stayed silent not knowing how to respond to what he was just told. Sly nodded slowly as they both sat there in silence letting everything that was said sink in. A few moments later heavy footsteps echoed throughout the building, jumping up they took out their Deagle's and walked into the hall holding their guns at ready. As Fliqpy came into view they lowered their weapons and followed his lead into the room they were in before; they all stood at attention staring at their Sergeant who was wearing a smirk.

"Get ready for a fight 'cause I'm pretty sure I _PISSED_ the Scorpion Leader off royally," he said with a devilish grin.

"Sergeant, what did you tell him," Sly was actually reluctant to know what he could have possibly said to the Scorpion Leader to anger him to the point of coming here personally. With a deep dark chuckle he sat down, refusing to answer he wiping the blood off his Bowie knife and began examining it.

An hour slowly passed as everyone, with the exception of Fliqpy, was sitting on pins and needles wondering what was said. Nervously they had already finished cleaning and preparing their weapons; Ligar then took out a picture of his wife, who was still pregnant at the time, closing his eyes he said a silent prayer. Kissing the picture he placed it back in his pocket and stood up, marching his way over to Fliqpy he pulled out his Bowie knife. Everyone stopped what they were doing and watched at what looked like a potential attack, but Ligar then knelt before him and held up his weapon, "Sergeant Orso, please teach me to wield this knife with the deadly accuracy you have."

Raising a brow he looked over the knelling private and chuckled to himself, "I knew there was something I like about you. Standing up he waited for his new student to stand along with him; kicking the chair out of his way he took several steps back and threw off his combat vest and turned to Ligar in a defensive position. "Forget everything you've learned, just trust your pure savage instincts and fucking attack me."

Nodding he took a deep breath and charged at him swinging right at his chest, but Fliqpy caught on to this and grabbed his forearm and with no difficulty threw him on the ground, "Instincts boy, use your instincts."Standing up again he prepared his mind and went back to brawling with his C.O. both going at each other as if they were out for one another's life.

This came to a stop once the noise of a vehicle coming to a halt made their way through the walls, followed by yelling from a familiar voice, the Scorpion Leader. "Flip- err Fliqpy what exactly did you let him that made him come here himself," Sly said with panic clear in her voice.

Smirking menacingly he spoke, "that dumb fuck thinks I'm the only one here, so that means you all need to get your happy asses into assault position, now."

Without a second thought they did as they were told and placed themselves at tactical point throughout the house. Walking into the back room Fliqpy scooped up the man with the Glasgow grin and covered his face with a hemp sack. Dragging the man out he propped him against the wall to make it look like he was bound and could not move. Standing tall he crossed his arms over his chest, facing the door he waited patiently for his guest to enter. It didn't take long for the door to violently swing open and a small group of heavily armed soldiers entered, their leader pushed his way through to the front and spoke in a thick accent, "You, hand over my son."

"Now _why_ would I do that," Fliqpy calmly asked the infuriated leader.

"Because if you do, _YOU MAY LIVE LONGER_," he shouted at the top of his lungs.

"Oh fine, since you asked so nicely. Besides he should have a nice big smile to see you," he laughed as he pulled the body to him. Tearing the sack off he revealed a man with terror instilled in his eyes and a mouth that hung open due to the tears on either side. Fliqpy then roughly tossed the leader his dead son. Staring at the man in his arms his eyes widened as he screamed out in terror, "_KILL HIM!"_

The soldiers readied their weapons and began opening fire at their single enemy; dodging the barrage of bullets he grabbed the gun from one man and forcefully hit him with the butt of his weapon. As the man released his grip to cover his face Fliqpy took control and loaded a clip into the man's stomach at pointblank range.

"NOW," Fliqpy roared out to his regiment as more men started pouring into the small building, they all appeared and started rapid fire shooting. Staying hidden as best as they could the four of them began cutting a line through their enemies. The Scorpion Leader continued shouting orders until Ligar snuck up from behind him and stabbed him right though his throat and carved down. Pulling the knife out he replaced it with his gloved hand, hooking it up and grabbed his jaw and looked to Fliqpy who gave a nod or approval before tearing his jaw from his face. The leader dropped to the floor holding his throat fighting to stay alive as long as he could, and looked up to Fliqpy with terror in his eyes. He replied by knelling down to the dyeing man's side and smiled before taking his own knife and stabbing him in his heart.

Standing back up he watched all his men come from hiding and looked over the carnage that was in the hall; they had taken down the Scorpion Leader, his son, his right hand man, and several troops all in one day. After it sunk in they started cheering over their victory; Fliqpy took this moment to step over everyone and opened the door. As he did he was met by a stray soldier who shot in several times in the chest and stomach. Hearing the shots Sly ran over and emptied the rest of her clip into the fleeing man before dropping next to her fallen Sergeant, "Shit, guy's call for help!"

Vicious yellow eyes faded to pleading green ones as he couched up blood and tried covering his chest and stomach. Looking over to his men his vision became blurry and hearing failed him; trying to speak he only gargled on his mouthful of blood. Ligar hurried over with a small military grade first aid kit and cut his Sergeants blood soaked shirt away to better get access to the multiple bleeding wounds. Moqueur finally got the communication line open and called their Major urging him to bring a medical chopper; when asked why he tried explaining with little success. Sly kept urging Flippy to stay awake, tapping his face every time he would begin to close his eyes. Grunting he couldn't take the pain anymore, closing his eyes again he drifted from consciousness.

A/N: Work took a lot out of me these past few days and I didn't have a chance to get to my laptop. Anyways I have finally got this chapter up for you all and I hope you enjoy. Also some explanations, the technique Fliqpy used to kill the fourth man is called the Blood Eagle and is a form of torture supposedly used by Vikings and in Norse legends. Also I know Fliqpy is a killer through and through, but I thought that since he only went for who he thought the enemy was he would recognize his allies and not attack them. Also love to ANGLEFIRE77 for adding this story to her alert list, and much love to Mitchi-Chan and DotDotDot for your comments. Until next time!  
>Edit: Oh god guys I'm so sorry you had to read the version I posted the first time around. I was extremely tired last night and didn't take the time to read it through like I normally do. Anyways if you're rereading it now everything has been fixed!<p> 


	12. Chapter 12

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of the HTD characters,**

**only the story I have thrown them in.**

Chapter XII

Flaky sadly sighed as she placed an order for Cro-Marmot; it had been three weeks since the joyous news that Flippy's regiment was the ones to kill the Scorpion Leader, but what worried her is she hasn't heard from him. He wasn't sneaking in calls to just tell her that he loved her, and he hadn't been online for their weekly video chat. Leaving her only wondering what had happed, was he alive, did he met someone else overseas, was he dead?

Taking the order that just come up she made her way to the designated table and gave them their food with the best smile she could muster up. Making sure they didn't need anything else she strolled back to the bar and listened to the weatherman giving the seven day forecast. Though it wasn't until a reporter said that they had devastating news from overseas that Flaky turned her complete attention to what was being said. Gasping as they showed pictures of a wrecked vehicle, Petunia walked up and placed a hand on her young employees shoulder as she too watched the news intently. What was said next seemed to shake their entire world; the Happy Tree Town's resident soldier Sergeant First Class Flippy Orso was killed in the line of duty. He had been shot several times in the chest down, but those were the only sketchy details they had available.

Flaky's blood ran cold and a nauseous feeling fell upon her; bursting into tears Petunia quickly wrapped her arms around her and led her back into her office. Once there she hugged the red head closely and let her cry it out. Placing her head carefully on hers Petunia found herself crying along with her. This was real, Flippy was dead, he wasn't going to just wake up the next morning and act like nothing had ever happened. Wiping her eyes furiously she tried to regain herself enough to call in a replacement for the day. With shaky hands she picked up her phone and left the red head sitting in the chair as she dialed Giggles number. Sniffling he was greeted with a chipper hello and took a deep breath before speaking, "Giggles sweetie, can you come fill in for Flaky today?"

"Sure, no problem," sensing the crackling in her bosses voice she had to ask, "Did something happen?"

"Yeah… something terrible," Petunia replied as another bout of tears came over her.

Within five minutes Giggles walked into the backroom in uniform, after being informed of the current situation she pulled her friend into a tight hug. She could only imagine how she was feeling; sadly she went out to take over where he friend left off. Petunia knelt before her and held one of her small hands, "Flaky sweetie, you want me to drive you home?"

Shaking her head she tried to speak but choked on her words, taking a few unsteady breaths she started speaking through her sobs, "I… I w-want t-t-to be alo-one r-right now."

Nodding Petunia held the door open for Flaky, and let her walk back home like she wanted to. Taking a detour through the park Flaky sat on a lone bench and looked down at her necklace, keeping a hold of the pendent tears began falling. Huddling over she began sobbing again, he wasn't going to be coming home. Pulling her knees up on the bench with her, feeling a hand on her back she turned her teary face to the side and found blue eyes coved by red rimmed glasses looking at her. Splendid rubbed her back and asked with concern, "Flaky what's wrong?"

Using the heel of her hand to wipe away some of the dampness she frowned and gave him a depressed expression. "Flippy he… he…" she couldn't continue on with her painful though. Sitting down next to her he wrapped his arms around her petite frame and pulled her into a close hug. Letting herself go once more she sobbed into her friends chest; as she cried it out he tried to quell her tears not wanting to see her in this much pain. Nonchalantly running his hand through her hair he asked in his always kind voice, "would you like me to walk you home?"

Choking on a few sobs she was finally calming down, pushing herself back in to a sitting position and again started rubbing her face. Nodding her eyes were still trained on the ground fearing that if she looked up everyone would see just how depressed she really was. Standing up with the help of Splendid he laced his arm around her shoulders too keep her close as they walked towards her house. With the exception of Flaky sniffling sporadically the short walk from the park to her house was silent. Reaching the porch he finally let the red head go from his protective grip. Turning her body to him she spoke softly, "Thank you Splendid."

"My pleasure," he said with a slight bow, standing up straight he pulled her into a hug. As she backed away he made a move without thinking and placed a feathery kiss upon her lips. Her amber eyes shot open as she roughly pushed him away and covered her mouth; tearing up once again Splendid realized what happened and went to explain himself. Ignoring him she quickly entered her house and slammed the door in his face, locking it feverously she placed her forehead on the door and started crying once again. Hearing him calling though the door she felt even more torn apart, running into her room she made sure that everything was locked up and the binds were closed before throwing herself down on her bed. Even though Splendid was the one who gave her the unwanted kiss she felt guild stricken for allowing that to happen, and betraying Flippy's trust. It didn't matter if he was dead or alive she was his girlfriend and he had trusted her to wait and come home. Burying her face in a pillow she tried to muffle her loud cries; all she wanted to do right now was curl up in a ball and die.

After several long minutes she started to calm down once more, but even though the sobbing ended her crying continued on. Turning over to laying on her back she looked at her phone and saw five missed calls from Splendid, just seeing his name made her heart hurt even more. Her arm slowly fell to set it back on the bed next to her when it started ringing, bring it back up she looked to see was calling. Pressing talk she brought it up to her ear and spoke sadly, "H-hi dad."

"Hi sweetie how are you," her father asked in a very concerned tone.

"Horrible," she told her father honestly in a very monotone voice.

"Well I have some news for you about Flippy," he said calmly to his forlorn daughter.

"I already know… he's dead," she said replied as her voice started to crack due to another round of depression started to make its way back to her.

"Dead? Who's dead," Spike asked his daughter clearly baffled by her outburst.

After a short pause Flaky had stopped crying all together as confusion paralyzed all of her emotions. Looking up at the white ceiling she gave it an odd look as if her father could see her expression, "Flippy?"

"Who told you he was dead," he asked trying to figure out what was going on in her mind.

"It… It was on the evening news," Flaky stated what had happened only an hour or so earlier.

"So that's how the blue haired reporter took Grizzly's statement," he said mostly to himself but still loud enough that Flaky's list of questions was starting to grow. "Flaky sweetie I've been her overseas for about a month now, and I can assure you that he's not dead. Grizzly is still as fickle as ever about who he talks to and this new reporter from Happy Tree news started badgering him for answers, and he simply stated that he didn't want to talk about the state of his son."

"He… he's alive" Flaky's eyes widened as she sat us in her bed. Excitement started to take over as she waited for her fathers to continue on with his news.

"Yes and he's luck to be alive at that, he was shot seven time total and somehow they missed all his vital organs, well almost all. One of his lungs collapsed but he's been alert," he reassured her once again.

Flaky sadly smiled and a few lone tears started to roll down her face; taking in several deep breaths she gave a small laugh and tried to wipe away her tears, "dad how do you know all this?"

"I'm writing an article about the entire day leading up to the death of the Scorpion Leader, and part of that is interviewing your boyfriend," he happily answered his daughter before talking to someone in the background. Laughing he returned to talking to his daughter, "Actually I have someone who wants to talk to you."

Flaky stayed quiet as she heard the phone being passed off. "Hey sweetheart," a loving voice rang through the phone.

Smiling she started full on crying, she was completely thrilled to hear this voice again. Choking on a sob her voice made it clear she was crying, "Hi handsome."

"I'm so sorry for worrying you, I should have called sooner," Flippy said in a slightly raspy voice.

"No no, its okay, I'm just happy you're alive," she said still crying happily. It had been a horrible day up until this moment, "It's like you came back from the dead, the entire town thinks you died because of a news report."

"Well then I can scare everyone when I get back home," he said with a small laugh that quickly turned to a painful groan, "Sorry it still hurts to laugh."

"Please don't push yourself," she urged him, wishing she could be there to help him with his recovery.

"I'm trying not to but this whole not being about to get up and do stuff is starting to get to me," he paused for a moment talking to someone in the background. "I'm sorry sweetie I have to let you go, they want to take this tube out of my chest. God I love you Flaky and I can't wait to see you again," he said lovingly.

"I love you too Flippy," she said happily sniffling as she heard the phone being passed off once again.

"So how are you now sweetie," Spike chuckled as he asked his daughter once more.

"Fantastic," she cried out happily, after saying goodbye to her father she hugged her pillow tightly and smiled letting her happy tears flow freely. Even with all the things that happened today she couldn't be happier, he was alive and he _would_ be coming home to her. Turning on her side she looked at the picture of them two together and couldn't wait for this to happen once again. Closing her eyes tightly she gave in to the exhaustion that took over after crying as hard as she had.

* * *

><p>Waking up she rubbed her eyes and looked at the clock, closing her eyes she happily snuggled up to her pillow, thinking about the number she saw on the clock her amber eyes snapped open and looked again. It was already one p.m. which meant she slept over twelve hours and missed her morning classes. Jumping out of bed she threw off her clothes and frantically searched for something to wear for the day, if she rushed she could still catch study group. Throwing together an outfit she ran from her room trying to pull her boots on along the way; grabbing her books she tossed them in her tote and placed it on the table and headed to the front closet. Taking out Flippy's uniform jacket and carefully slid it on as his words from last night echoed though her minds. Smiling widely she returned to the task at hand and picked up her tote and scooped her keys of the table and hurried to Flippy's truck. Driving to the campus library she found herself feeling laid back, even though she had never missed a class before she wasn't panicking.<p>

After parking the truck she gathered up her things and quickly made her way into the large building. Looking around she eventually spotted her friends and joined Giggles, Cuddles, Sniffles, and Nutty at their regular table. Sitting next to the other female she smiled happily and asked, "So what did I miss today?"

They all stared in amazement, after yesterday they never expected she'd show up today, let alone show up for the next week, or more. "Uh… nothing really it was a review day… are you sure you want to be here," Sniffles was concerned if his friend really was okay.

"Yeah I'm sure, so what are we working on right now," She asked snuggling in Flippy's jacket.

"Chem, but Flaky how can you be so happy, I mean Splendid's report last night said he was killed in the line of duty," Giggles said still clearly saddened about the new they received yesterday.

It clicked, her father had mentioned a reporter with blue hair, and he_ did_ just get hired by the local news station. Pushing that to the back of her mind she began explaining, "Well Flippy's dad is his General, and our dad's go back quite a while. So when it comes to interviews General Orso will let my dad know all the details before anyone else, and well my dad called me last night and was actually sitting right next to Flippy and let me talk to him. He was hurt badly but he's alive!"

Everyone gasped, he had somehow escaped death yet again, and they couldn't be happier to hear this news. Forgetting about the homework before them everyone took turns talking about how joyous they were too hear such great news. That was until Splendid weaved his way over to their table and joined them, "Hey guys what's up?"

Looking over at him she froze as the memories of yesterday came back along with the information she learned today. Frowning she pushed her notebook back in her tote and gave Giggles a depressed look, "You know that… on second thought, I think I should take the day off from studying."

Standing up she hurried out ignoring Splendid and Giggles calling for her, darting over to the truck she was finally stopped by Splendid. Turning around she saw Giggles running to see what was going on. "Flaky listen, I wanted to apologize for last night. It was completely out of line and I'm so sorry, please forgive me."

Furrowing her brows she set her tote on the ground she did the only thing that came to mind and slapped him hard across the face. Giggles froze in her tracks, gasping at what her meek friend just did and watched as the red head started crying. Splendid covered his cheek and turned to her clearly in shock at the wrath he had just incurred. "How could you, you didn't even know the truth! Now everyone thinks that Flippy is dead because you took what General Orso said the wrong way, how could you do that! And on top of that you kissed me when I was vulnerable and obviously didn't care how I was feeling after finding out my boyfriend was dead!"

This took him by surprise, in the few months of knowing her no one ever told him that she had a boyfriend, let alone that her boyfriend was the one that everyone talked about. Going to speak he was cut off as she spoke in a calmer tone this time, "My boyfriend who I love very much is alive, a-and even though he's away serving our country I won't do anything to hurt him. So please Splendid… I do like you but only as a friend, please understand."

Nodding slowly he suddenly felt horrid for everything he had done, "I… I understand."

"Good," she said wearily also stunned as to where that all came from; turning around she picked up her tote and returned to the truck leaving her two friends standing in the parking lot in complete shock.

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><p>AN: This chapter is probably my least favorite one out of this entire story. I don't know it just didn't seem to flow as well as all the other chapters, and it seemed no matter how hard I tried to word it better it still never came out how I wanted it to. Oh well c'est la vie. Lots of love and thanks to Robin Hunter for the fav, and as always lots and lots of love to Mitchi-chan, DotDotDot, SheLovesBBLFlippy, and therosiesweetheart for the lovely reviews! Until next time!


	13. Chapter 13

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of the HTF characters,**

**only the story I have thrown them into.**

Chapter XIII

Since all the drama with Splendid and the scare of Flippy being dead the month of November passed by almost painfully slow. Though in this time Flaky finally got her life back into order, and was enjoying her few phone conversations that she got with her loving soldier and couldn't be more exited for him to come home for Christmas. She was hoping to surprise him with something but didn't know what, and that was where her friends came in; Lammy had invited the three girls with the mall with her for some early Christmas shopping. Walking through the large local mall the white haired girl was happily explaining just how excited she was that Dylan had gotten time off of work abroad and was going to be flying in for the holiday season. Eventually she did ask about everyone else, and the bluenette was the first to reply, "Well I have the bar to run so Handy and I are just going to spend it with each other and our families. It's a nice and simple Christmas but we always have so much fun just seeing our families all together."

"Uhg, I can't wait to get away from my family," Giggles interjected, "like seriously, my mom and dad are being such downers."

"Really, I always thought your mom was a lot of fun to be with around the holidays," Flaky asked the pinkette and took another sip of her pop.

"Normally but like I said, total downer, that's why I can't wait for the week of Christmas. Cuddles parents are letting us go up to their cabin this year, so we're going to be stay up there for the week."

"Well that should be nice," Lammy replied with a bright smile, "What about you Flaky, what are your plans?"

Taking another sip she thought about the entire month and gave a shrug, "I don't know. As far as I know Flippy should be home for the week, but with his injuries I don't know if he'll be able to fly home."

Sighing heavily she didn't want to think about him not being able to come home, Petunia wrapped her arm around her shoulders and reassured her, "I'm sure he'll make it, and besides if they try telling him no, we all know he'll personally fly a plane home himself."

Smiling they couldn't help but laugh at the thought of him smacking people out of his way and hijacking a chopper. After calming their laughter Lammy looked to her right and gasped, before anyone had a chance to ask what it was she had already ran her way into the nearby lingerie shop. Following her they watched as she bounced at her discovery. Holding up a lavender lace flyaway babydoll to her body she turned to her friends and happily asked, "Oh, what do you think of this?"

Flaky gave a small nod of approval while Giggles and Petunia took turns saying just how cute that it was and how the color was perfect for her. Looking down at it once more Lammy decided that she was going to buy it, but not before helping everyone else pick out something. Walking around Giggles was the first to be subject to the picking out something sexy. Shifting through a rack of slips Giggles found the one she loved, a hot pink slip with a black lace overlay. Petunia was up next, but she already had something in mind. Walking over to the opposite wall she picked up a light blue bustier set with white polka dots, smiling she admired it for a moment.

Knowing it was only a matter of time before they turned their attention to her Flaky started to slowly back her way out of the store. Feeling a pair of hand on her shoulders she looked behind her and found Lammy with a bright grin and gave an uneasy laugh. Giggles then took the red heads arms and started pulling her along, "come on Flaky, it'll be fun!"

"She's right it's a lot of fun," Lammy ushered her along as Petunia carefully selected several things for her to try on before following the three others into the fitting room. Handing the small stack of lingerie and closed the door to the room and left the nervous red head standing there looking down at the pile in her hands. Hanging them on the hook she shifted through the options that were made available to her and found herself scared to even try a majority of them on. Finally she found something that wasn't too revealing but still would show enough to be considered sexy. Slowly taking her clothes off she picked up the red velvet Ms Claus teddy and cautiously stepped in and pulled it on. Looking at herself in the mirror she started blushing; her small breasts were being pushed up and together making them look bigger than they really were. Running her hands over her body, and couldn't believe that even though she had a petite frame it was possible to make it look this sensual. Shyly smiling she pulled it off of her body and hung it and returned to the clothes that she had on prior. Opening the door she quickly hung the ones she didn't want on the return rack and held her velvet prize closely, rejoining her friends she gave them a weak smile before making their way over to standing in line.

After the embarrassing trip to buy some lingerie Flaky had to separate from the rest of the small group to go to work. Driving her car to work she carried her bags into the back and changed from her street clothes into her work uniform. Throwing her clothes in the bag with her new sexy outfit she put her belongings in her work locker; making her way out she logged in to the time system and took to the floor to help Toothy with the customers. It was another karaoke night at the bar and grille so it was packed to max capacity, luckily that meant that work wouldn't be too bad, just getting beer for the adults and pop for the younger college students. Smiling she greeted people as she made her way over to taking over the tables that the newly hired Truffles had be waiting upon so that he could go back to bussing tables. Carefully carrying several beers over to Disco Bear and his buddies and quickly ran away because she didn't want to stick around and see what pick up lines he'd try using tonight. While taking orders for another one of her tables a man with red hair and blue rimmed glasses caught her attention; he must have been new to town, but there was something about it that scared her. Walking over to Toothy she nudged him gently. "Hey, I know that red haired guy is in my section but could you get him," she asked nervously, making it obvious to Toothy she was afraid of him.

Looking over at him he nodded, "Sure no problem, but take over one of my tables and we'll call it even."

Agreeing she made her way to the table of newly arrived customers in Toothy's section, greeting them sweetly she took their orders. Still as she moved through the bar she felt eyes on her at all times. Looking back she noticed it was the red haired man and quickly jumped back to what she was doing; adverting eye contact with him she tripped and dropped the empty glasses she had been carrying. Panicking she grabbed some napkins and started cleaning up when Cro-Marmot came with a dustpan and broom and tapped her on the shoulder, "Go take five."

Embarrassed she quickly made her way to the back room and sighed, that guy scared her and she was letting that been knows, sitting on the couch she covered her face. For some reason she just couldn't shake the feeling that he was definitely watching _her_. Groaning she fell into a laying position and stared at the door; trying to calm her mind was currently a difficult task and didn't know why, but she believed it stemmed from her sudden case of paranoia. Rubbing her eyes and turned her attention to the jacket Flippy gave her and whispered, "Flippy where are you? Please come home and save me."

The door opened a moment later and Cro-Marmot walked in and sat in a nearby chair and waited for Flaky to sit up before asking, "What's going on Flaky?"

Shifting her eyes to the floor the embarrassed feeling came back over her for what she was about to tell him, "T-there's a man w-with red hair w-who k-keeps eyeing me, a-and not like the o-others do… h-he's being really creepy a-about it."

Nodding he looked over his timid employee, "Your one of veteran waitresses we have and we really need you here tonight, but I promise he won't do anything, and I he tries I have a club behind the bar and I'm not afraid to take a swing if need be."

Slightly nodding she knew she should have felt better but in reality she was just as scared as she was before he gave her his little pep talk. Standing up she followed him out to rejoin the bar and got right back to work again, this time however she tried to stay out of eyeshot of the red haired man. For the most part she succeeded because the next time she caught sight of him was after he paid and was leaving. Sighing this put her at a complete sense of ease and made work a hundred times easier.

Once her break rolled around she got herself a tea, sitting at the bar she listened to people sing; smiling the memories of her and Flippy's first date flooded back to her mind, after a moment an idea came to her. Hopping off the stool she walked over to the DJ and carefully tapped him on the shoulder and smiled, "Could you just play Rope by Foo Fighters for me please."

"Sure thing," he replied and added her song to the playlist; hopping back up on her stool she took a sip of her tea. Several minutes later her requested song started playing and a loving smile took over her face. Closing her eyes she let the mental image of her boyfriend singing this same song intoxicated her being. It was almost as if he was actually here again impressing everyone with his rock star voice. After four minutes the song came to its end Flaky opened her eyes and sadly frowned. For a moment she almost expected to see Flippy handing the mic over and taking a bow before making his way over to give her a loving kiss. Sighing she was missing him more and more since the news about his collapsed lung, and just the thought of seeing him again was what got thought days like these. Hopping off the seat she took her empty glass with her as she walked behind the bar and dumped out the ice and set the glass in the cleaner. Once that was done she finally went back to work.

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><p>After clocking out for the night she pulled on her jacket and gathered up her bags from her locker. Pulling out her keys she followed Cro-Marmot out and walked to her car as he locked the place up, sitting in the driver set she made sure everything was adjusted. Waving goodbye to her manager she tried turning over the engine and found it not wanting to start, trying it twice more she came to the conclusion her car wouldn't start. Whining she rested her head on the steering wheel, she should have took Flippy's truck like she had been for the last few days. Groaning in frustration she removed her seatbelt and scooped up her bag, exiting her car she huffed and started walking towards the main street.<p>

Marching down the street she couldn't believe that her car broke down and now she was stuck walking home in the cold December night. Eventually her frustration was overcome by an overwhelming state of paranoia. Holding her things closely she began looking over her shoulders to make sure she wasn't being followed. Nervously she quickly crossed the street still looking around constantly, she wasn't sure what was making her feel this way but whatever it was she didn't like it one bit. Picking up her pace she continued down the road whishing her house would magically be the next building.

Before she knew what happened to her something grabbed a hold of her and roughly pulled her down an ally way. Fighting with all her strength she tried to get away, opening her eyes again she saw the same red haired man from the bar and froze in terror. Luckily it was only temporary, she started fighting to get away once again yelling loudly hoping someone would hear. Covering her mouth the man pushed her hard against the brick wall, making sure she was pinned he spoke coldly, "Listen and listen well, I don't give a _fuck_ about you or who you are. All I want is him, and I know he has a soft spot for you, so you're going to be my bait."

Tears stared trailing their way down her face as he started laughing heinously; frantically breathing she squeezed her eyes shut. Next she did the only thing that came to her mind and bit his gloved hand as hard as she could. Quickly he pulled his hand away, spitting out the small amount of fabric she turned and tried to run, but he was faster as he reached out and grabbed the back part of her jacket collar. Choking from the sudden stop he flung her into a group of garbage cans causing her to yelp from the pain of impact. Crying freely she started whispering to herself, "Flippy… Flippy… s-save me please… please." After a small pause she screamed at the top of her lungs, "HELP ME!"

"No one's going to help you got that," he sneered and took a few steps closer and backed herself farther into the mess of garbage behind her. Closing her eyes again she pulled Flippy's uniform jacket over her head and started sobbing. Flinching she heard a large thump and what sounded like low growling began. Wiping her eyes she peered through the jacket and spotted a pair of tan military regulated combat boots. Shifting her eyes up she saw a green haired man taking off his uniform jacket, tossing it to the ground he cracked his gloved knuckles. The red haired man stood up and turned his glare to the new comer, "Who the _fuck_ are you?"

"Your worst fucking nightmare," a very familiar dark voice replied. The red haired man charged and grabbed him by the throat forcing the taller of the two against the brick wall. In that one moment infuriated red eyes met blood thirsty yellow ones. "Bad move," the dark voice growled and punched the smaller one hard in the stomach. Once his throat was released he grabbed a handful of the hunched over man's hair and violently rammed his knee into his face shattering his glasses. Screaming loudly he covered his face and tried to pull some of the shards out of his bloody eyes. Once he was able to partially see he stood up, but as he did he found himself being punched to the ground.

Growling he looked at the downed man and kicked him as hard as he could in the ribs. After there was another scream of pain he stood over the red head and reached down; grabbing his collar he pulled him up and held him against the nearest wall, "Don't you _ever _fucking touch my girlfriend again you worthless piece of shit."

Tossing him back to the ground and with one swift move crushed his head under his curb stomping foot. Panting he looked over at Flaky with eyes still glowing a bright deadly yellow; seeing this she whimpered as he slowly walked over to her. Kneeling down before her he pulled her into a loving hug and started to physically shake as he said in a sad yet loving tone, "I'm so sorry Flaky, I should have never left you. Can you ever forgive me?"

With wide eyes she pushed him back to look him over she met teary green eyes, smiling her eyes started welling up too. Hugging him closely grabbing the back of his shirt making sure she held him close and both started crying out of the sheer joy of finally seeing one another again.

As their tear filled reunion continued as Splendid landed at the opening of the ally and looked around. Hearing Flaky crying he focused in on the sound and saw her clawing at the back of a man's shirt and gasped, assuming this was her assailant. Running over he grabbed the back of Flippy's shirt and with a strong yank pulled him away, "Get off of her you pervert!"

"I suggest you let me go," his voice cracked due to his crying, but still was low enough to show he meant business. Glaring at Splendid his teary eyes were teetering on showing he was back on the war path. Grabbing all her things and Flippy's uniform jacket she jumped up wiping her tears away before speaking firmly, "Splendid, let my boyfriend go."

His blue eyes widened immensely and released his tight hold from the back of his shirt; Flippy did the same as Flaky and dried his face. Carefully taking his jacket back from Flaky he placed a small kiss on her forehead and slipped it back on pulling Flaky close to him. Wrapping her arms around him she leaned closely to him and spoke once more, "Besides the man you're looking for is over there."

Splendid walked over to the body he gasped and whispered to himself, "Splendont…"

Turning around he saw Flaky being lifted into a bridal position he took a few brisk steps and called out, "Wait Flaky."

Flippy stopped in his place so that Flaky could answer her friend, "Splendid… I just want to go home, I'll talk to you tomorrow or something."

Looking back at the blue haired man Flippy gave him an evil grin and yellow quickly faded away to green, tilting his head down he placed a loving kiss on her lips. After their lips parted he resumed walking in the direction of her house.

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><p>AN: Only one more chapter to go! I'm actually sad that its coming to an end so soon but I've extended it as long as I could and now the story is winding down to its close. Lots of love to DotDotDot for your lovely comment! Also if any of you want a tear jerker I suggest going and reading The Tragic Disease by none other than the lovely DotDotDot13! Until next time!


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N: Alright everyone it's here, the final chapter. Before you go on and read the ending I just wanted to take a moment and let you guys know how much every review, every favorite, every alert, and every hit has meant to me. Every single one of you have made typing up and sharing this story a lot of fun, and reminded me how much fun writing actually is. 'Cause in all honesty I never expected anyone to like, let alone fall in love with this story and it really took my by surprise. I honestly don't think I can ever put into words just how thankful I am to every single one of you. **

**I also what to give a special shout out to DotDotDot who has been following my story since the beginning, thank you so much and I can't wait to read what you come up with next!**

**One final think, I had mentioned a surprise a few chapters back and at the end of this chapter will be the surprise I've promised you.**

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><p><strong>Disclaimer: I do not own any of the HTF characters,<strong>

**only the story I have thrown them in.**

Chapter XIV

Lying in bed between her dream world and reality Flaky turned her petite frame on its side and came to rest once again. Last night's events still hadn't sunken in, so to her it was all just part of her rollercoaster dream. Feeling warmth next to her she grinned and cuddles up closer to the heat source and ran her hand over the scratchy material that was gauze. Furrowing her brows she tried to open her eyes and look at what it was but found this task to be a little more difficult than she originally thought. Blinking several more times until her eyes finally focused, and the first think she was greeted with was crimson liquid making its way through the already soaked gauze. Gasping she quickly sat up in her bed and looked down at the figure that was next to her; to her surprise she saw her twenty-six year old boyfriend.

His green hair was starting to grow back and there the lower half of his face was covered with several centimeters long hair that gave away the act he hadn't shaved in a short while. On his left shoulder he now donned a new scar from whatever cut him clean across. Pulling the covers back a bit she visibly saw his same old scars from previous battles, but a good portion of his chest was covered with the bandaging that hid his new additions. Reaching her hand over slowly she gently rubbed a hand over the soft fuzz that was covering his head, he was really here, she wasn't just dreaming. Smiling happily she couldn't contain her joy and started sobbing happily to her discovery. Her soft whimpers woke the man next to her, groaning quietly he rubbed his green eyes and looked up to the crying girl next to him. Realizing she was in fact crying he jolted up and pulled her closely; having no idea why she was crying he just wanted to quell her tears. Shushing her softly he placed a loving kiss on her forehead; setting a hand at either side of her face he used his thumbs to wipe away the dampness.

All the memories of last night flooded back into her memory and hugged him closely forgetting all about his wound. He saved her life from that man who wanted her for whatever reason she still didn't understand. "F-Flippy you're r-really here," she choked out and hugged him closer. Moving her arm up slightly she felt the scratchy gauze once more; pulling back she looked at his chest before shifting to looking up to his eyes, "You're bleeding…"

Continuing to rub her back he looked down at his own wounded chest and looked was shocked to see one of the gauze strips covered in blood. Using his free hand he covered it with two fingers before taking them away and examining just how much he was bleeding. Seeing them covered his eyes widened at the amount he discovered, "Wow, I must have really over done it last night."

Reluctantly he crawled out from beneath the warm covers and walked over to his clothes that he took off before sleeping. Reaching into his pant pocket he took out a bag that looked like some medical supplies. Heading into the bathroom Flaky continued to wipe away her tears, after saving her he carried her all the way to her house even though he was seriously injured. She had the most amazing boyfriend in the world; a loving smile took over her face as she choked back some more tears. Also moving from the warm bed and shivered, making her way slowly to the bathroom she noticed that she was no longer in her work uniform. Remembering falling asleep in his arms, he must have taken the time and changed her into her pajamas; smiling wider she honestly did have the world's most amazing boyfriend. Stretching with a shiver she crept her way to her master bath and edged her way in.

Inside she was met a much focused Flippy who was currently cleaning out the one wound on his chest that was still healing. Pouring water over the stitched wound once more he patted the surround area dry. Setting the hand towel down he picked up a small tube of antibiotic ointment, uncapping it he squeezed some out onto his finger and cringed as he dapped it on the painful inflamed wound. After finishing he breathed out in relief, recapping the tube he set it down and swapped it for a large square paper. Tearing one side off he pulled out a sterile sheet of gauze; doubling it over he placed it back on his chest and taped it down. Gathering up all the garbage he threw it away and turned to Flaky with a wide smile, "There all patched up."

Walking over to him she wrapped her arms around him carefully and laid her head on his chest and felt the other patches of gauze. Pulling back she looked over his bare torso once more, "what about the other ones?"

Patting her head he let her release him, "Well these actually should be able to come off now, it's just that this one was the worst one." Pulling the tape off the three other places and revealed six of the seven new scars that were added to his collection. Throwing the bandaging away he let her slowly run her hand over the pink indented circles that were scattered over his chest and abs. Frowning at them all she could only imagine the pain; feeling his hand under her chin she let him guide her face up and met his lips for a loving kiss. Breaking away he spoke softly, "Don't look sad, no matter how I am now I'm here to protect you."

Nodding happily she gave him another sweet kiss, not being use to the facial hair he was currently sporting she pulled away and rubbed her small hand against it, "I think you need to shave again."

Chuckling he wrapped his arms around her and placed a longing kiss upon her before whispering into her ear, "But I don't ever want to leave you."

Meeting for another kiss Flippy gently picked her up and set her on her bathroom counter so he could lean into her without exacerbating his wound. Leaning back onto her mirror she wrapped her arms around his neck to hold him in their kiss. Sliding her tongue across his bottom lip he happily obliged and opened his mouth and pressed his tongue against her.

Finally taking a moment to breathe their foreheads touched one another so that they never had to completely break their connection. Placing soft pecks upon each other's lips they weren't quite ready to stop making up for lost time. Eventually their kissing ended and turned into just holding their bodies close to one another, wishing that they could stay this way forever. Rubbing his hand against the soft cotton that was covering her skin and spoke sweetly, "I love you more than anything in the world."

"I love you more than anything in the universe," Flaky cooed softly in his ear.

"I love you more."

"I love you the most." Looking into each other's eyes gave a small laugh, calming down they simply stared at one another. Longing clear in both or their eyes, both were overjoyed just to be able to hold each other close. Leaning her head into his chest she wrapped her arm around his torso almost on the verge of happily crying again. Smiling down at his red headed girlfriend he placed an innocent kiss on the top of her head; lacing his arms around her petite frame he pulled her close and quietly hummed as he rested his head on hers. Their silent embrace was interrupted as Flaky's cell phone started ringing loudly; breaking away from his hold she looked over to her nightstand. Looking back over at her boyfriend once more she was met with a pout pleading her to let it go to voicemail, ignoring his silent plead she placed a small kiss on the tip of his nose. Pushing herself off the counter she scampered over to her nightstand and picked up her phone. Without looking at the number she pressed talk and brought it up to her ear, "Hello."

"Good morning Flaky, how are you feeling this morning," a very worried Splendid asked.

"I'm fantastic, how about yourself," she asked happily while taking a seat on her bed.

"I'm fine. Anyways are you okay? He didn't do anything to you last night did he," Splendid asked with worry still thick in his voice.

"Flippy," she asked oddly as she watched her boyfriend come back to the bed with her; crawling on it he curled his body around her.

"No… Splendont," he hesitated saying the name as if he would materialize out of thin air, which in this town was highly possible.

"Oh the red haired guy… Well he pushed and pulled me around a bit, but I'm okay. There's not even a scratch on me," she said giggling as Flippy hugged her leg closely and placed soft kisses on her outer thigh.

"That good," he said finally sounding relieved, "What about your boyfriend? I mean he hasn't done anything to you… err what I mean… he seemed pretty blood thirsty."

Staying silent for a moment she thought back about everything that happened the previous night; after a moment she finally recalled the violently glowing yellow eyes and the dark animalistic growling voice. A shiver silently ran down her spine, this could only mean that Fliqpy was back in the picture. Swallowing hard she pushed that thought out of her mind, she was too happy to have Flippy back and didn't want to dampen the mood with such things. "He's fine, we actually both just woke up not too long ago."

"Really, well I was thinking about going out to breakfast, you two want to come along," he asked hoping to see for himself that she was really safe, even with her boyfriend.

"Thanks for the offer but I think we'll pass, I kind of just want to spend time with him," She said cheerfully rubbing the fuzz that was her boyfriends hair.

"Oh… Okay, you two have a good day then," Splendid replied with a hint of jealousy in him voice.

"You too," she replied happily before hanging up the phone and turned all of her attention to the man who was curled up around her. Enjoying the long awaited attention she was giving him he nuzzled closer, closing his eyes he grinned and resumed placing kisses on her leg. Giggling she started tracing the curves and contours of each of the muscles on his shoulder and arm. The mention of Fliqpy come back to her mind, frowning slightly she tried to think of a way to bring up his returning condition without having him freak out. Taking a deep breath she nodded to herself she decided just to be straight forward, "Flippy, about last night… when you were protecting me you seemed like… you were… Flippy?"

Looking down at her boyfriend she found that he was currently sporting a frown and was trying the hide his face between the sheets and her leg as if her was ashamed, and he was. Adverting his eyes he was actually afraid to look his loving girlfriend in the eyes, he didn't want to see the change in her expression, nor did he want to watch it change when he told her to truth. Sighing he slowly sat up next to her and pinched the bridge of his nose trying to figure out how to word it; looking to Flaky he was met with a worried expression that broke his heart. Sadly frowning once again he looked back to the ground, "I'm so sorry Flaky… I… I thought I still had _him_ under control, but then all I could think of was not coming home to you and… it just happened."

Covering his face he couldn't bare seeing what she might do, he didn't even want to really hear what she may have to say to him. Flaky's expression softened; carefully she pulled one of his hands away from his face and held it in both of her small hands. All she could do was try to reassure him, "But you seem like you can at least control it… him now."

"Not well enough. I wasn't even me for about ninety percent of the final mission, and I did a lot of completely brutal things that I could never do otherwise," he said with a sad urgency. Starting to cry a bit at remembering the things that had happened he continued, "I tortured men to death and attacked one of my own soldier, and I couldn't do anything to stop it."

Tears where now pouring down the soldiers face, and it was Flaky's turn to do the comforting; taking both of his hands and put them around her. Pulling his head down to her chest she rubbed his back with one hand and rested the other on his head. Leaning her cheek onto the top of his head she let him cry it out and fought back tears of her own; she felt helpless and was doing the only thing that came to mind to try and calm him down.

Slowing his crying he just held her closely, he was so afraid that now he had a relapse that she would leave him until he could once again control it, afraid that if he let her go she would be gone. Flaky, however, felt the exact opposite. Wiping his cheeks she tried guiding his face up to look at her; meeting his teary eyes she smiled sweetly hoping to get some sort of a smile in return. Forcing a small smile he couldn't imagine why she would be this cheerful after getting this news, "Don't worry Flippy, we'll get it all under control, _together._"

Tearing up once again he couldn't believe he just heard her say those words or that she had so much confidence in him. Pulling her closer he began assaulting her with loving kisses. Laughing at his sudden change to being playful she stopped him and just looked him over. Reaching up she traced the curves of his smile and ran her hand over his scruffy facial hair. Shaking her head she couldn't help but giggle softly, the haircut didn't bother her as much as his facial hair, it just didn't look right on him. Placing a gentle kiss upon him she rubbed noses before finally saying what she had been thinking, "Let's get you home so you can shave."

"Alright alright," he chuckled finally released her and stood up from the bed and made his way over to his pile of clothes. Pulling on his camo uniform pants he looked over to Flaky and grinned, "I guess that's a no on growing it out to a handlebar mustache."

"Capital N.O," she said latching her bra and adjusting herself before looking for a shirt to wear for the day. Pulling out a light brown sweater she slid it on, picking up the first pair of jeans she could find she stepped into them and watched as Flippy pulled on his uniform coat and couldn't help but smile. Joining him on her bed once more they both pulled on their boots, as Flaky waited for him to lace his up she grabbed her jacket that was given to her. Once he stood up she took his gloved hand and joined him in the migration to his house. Along the way they were greeted with many people who were in shock and awe as they walked hand in hand through the fresh layer of light snow. Blushing deeply Flaky lowered her head and tried not to attract much attention to them. Though with Flippy being home for the first time in months it was hard not to have people stare. Using their conjoined hands he nudged her to get her attention, looking up she was greeted with a happy smile. A happy smile that was contagious because as soon as she saw it she couldn't help but have one of her own creep across her face.

Finally reaching his house Flippy stood in the driveway and examined the outside of his house, nothing had changed but there was something about it that was more welcoming that it ever had been. Flaky pulled out the keys to his house and walked up to the front door and saw two large bags waiting there for them. Unlocking the door Flippy decided to follow, picking up the bags that contained his belongings he cautiously crept into his house. Taking a few more steps in Flaky closed the door and watched as he closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Setting his bags down he opened his eyes once more, "Home."

Walking closer she turned on the overhead light so that he could see everything clearly, and as she did he slowly began walking around the home he left behind four long months ago; though it could have been longer had he not acted. Smiling he took off his gloves and ran his hand over the fabric of the couch. Walking in farther he turned around and smiled at Flaky looking as if he was about to cry out of sheer joy, "Flaky… I'm home."

"You're home," she happily exclaimed, this just verified that everything that happened was real because he finally said the words she was longing to hear. Joyously she ran over to him and jumped into his arms; catching her he carefully spun her around and kissed her lovingly. Happily laughing he set her back on the ground but kept her in his embrace, while she gently nuzzled her head in his chest about ready to start crying herself. Moving her arms up she cupped his face and just looked at him, he was home and he wasn't going anywhere. Slipping a hand in her red locks he pushed her hair back and placed a feathery kiss on her lips and made her a promise, "I will never leave you again sweetheart."

Smiling a single happy tear rolled down her face as she pulled him into a loving kiss. Holding him there for several long seconds she gave him his lips back and cooed, "I love you with all my heart."

"I love you more," he grinned and pulled her into another hug, nothing else mattered right now.

He was home.

* * *

><p>I hope to see you all soon in the <strong>sequel<strong> for ODaaT, _Piece by Broken Piece, _which will be launching beginning to mid May! Until then I send you my love to hopefully hold you over.


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